Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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Arizona Republican Congressman Andy Biggs was hardly the first conservative to accuse the Biden administration of being weak in response to the hundreds of thousands of border encounters happening monthly in the Southwest. Biggs does, however, rank as one with a unique sense of timing.
In a pair of tweets Monday, Biggs both lampooned a member of the Biden administration as being poorly connected to reality and championed Republicans as solutions-oriented problem solvers.
The unquestioned star of the moment, though, was not Biggs but White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who struggled through her response to a series of questions from Fox News’ Peter Doocy regarding the strict nature of vaccine mandates for people visiting the U.S. by plane versus those who arrive at the southern border.
Specifically, Doocy asked about the Biden administration’s stance on denying entry into the U.S. for tennis star Novak Djokovic.
“Somebody unvaccinated comes over on a plane, you say that’s not okay. Somebody walks into Texas or Arizona unvaccinated, they’re allowed to stay? Why?” Doocy asked.
Jean-Pierre, who attempted to dodge an earlier version of the question, responded, “But that’s not how it works.”
“That’s what’s happening,” Doocy replied. “I know that’s not what you guys want to happen. But that is what is happening.”
The key moment came next, when Jean-Pierre chose an interesting, one might call it haphazard turn of phrase.
“But that’s not … it’s not like somebody walks over and …” Jean-Pierre said, before cutting her sentence short, likely realizing her misstep.
This gave Doocy a chance to say, “That’s exactly what’s happening” and cited figures of thousands of migrants arriving on foot to the U.S., some of whom are captured, others of whom report to Border Patrol, and others still who avoid detection.
Jean-Pierre did not attempt to clarify her initial remarks. Rather, she listed steps the Biden administration had taken to address the problem.
Biggs, who included a video of the exchange, tweeted, “She should visit the border sometime. I’m happy to arrange the trip.”
She should visit the border sometime.
I'm happy to arrange the trip. https://t.co/7AVCENd5ET
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) August 29, 2022
Earlier in the day, Biggs tweeted that he and other conservatives had met with the union that represented Border Patrol agents.
“This morning, my congressional colleagues and I met with the National Border Patrol Union to discuss how to best address Biden’s Border Crisis,” Biggs said. “It is simply unsustainable to have 200,000+ illegal aliens crossing our borders every month.”
The National Border Patrol Council, which identifies itself as the Border Patrol Union on Twitter, has a rather active and outspoken presence on social media and hammered Jean-Pierre throughout the day.
“She likely doesn’t even know what planet she is on,” one tweet from the organization reads. “This is just embarrassing, even for the incompetent Barney Fife administration from hell.”
This quote might have lacked reverence for the press secretary, but it was an improvement on the NBPC initial reaction to Jean-Pierre’s comment, which was to share 22 crying-and-laughing emojis followed by 22 clown emojis.