Myself and many others on this site have been saying for quite some time that the Republican Party is at its core not about policy but about sticking it to the other side. Ron Desantis’s recent stunt shipping migrants to Martha’s Vineyard is a perfect illustration of this.
So if republicans were about policy, what would this have looked like? Well, the debate here is over the southern border and whether we as a country are doing enough to stop the flow of illegals/migrants into our country.
It is common sense that if you want to get people to agree with your position you have to start by getting them to agree that the problem you are proposing solutions for is itself a legitimate issue.
So what the governors could have very easily done was reach out to blue states across the country and tell them they are overflowing with migrants and need help relocating them. This would have created a win win; if blue states say yes and take the migrants, they red state governors get to declare victory to their voters by showing how they were able to shift the excess migrants elsewhere. If blue states said no, they get to use that to win the national debate by showing that even blue states are saying we cannot handle this influx and thus making the irrefutable case that we need to tighten up the border.
But they’re not about policy, so what did they do instead?
Lured a bunch of migrants into a plane and then dumped them in another state telling no one… Except Fox News.
Anyone with a grade school level of psychology knows what happens next… when you piss off your opposition all you’re going to do is give them more reason to oppose you.
But when all you care about is owning the other side, this strategy makes more sense.
They’re not about policy.