OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was put in charge of solving the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border a few months after she and President Joe Biden took office—leading her to be dubbed “border czar”—is about to get put on the spot over her epic failure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced plans to visit the southwestern border in the vice president’s home state of California to promote his party’s election integrity legislation and speak about the failed border policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
“Johnson will speak at a press conference at 8:15 p.m. EDT with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) at the ‘Whiskey 8’ border fence in San Ysidro, California. He will also tour the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and Imperial Beach locations,” the report said.
“California has been a hot spot for border crossings, particularly in San Diego, which is south of San Ysidro,” it said.
Republicans and Democrats are engaged in a battle over the term “border czar” as it applies to Harris as Democrats have correctly stated that she was never officially given that title, though her duties did include work on root causes of the migration crisis.
“She was never assigned the position of ‘border czar,’” House Minority Leader and New York Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday during his weekly press conference. “They are making that up because extreme MAGA Republicans are in full meltdown. They don’t really know what to do, and they lack an affirmative agenda.”
Democratic Caucus Chairman and California Rep. Pete Aguilar said the resolution was an example of Republicans “playing politics.”
“It’s not surprising to anybody what they’re doing. It’s almost laughable,” he said to the Washington Examiner. “But there was no ‘border czar’ position … this is Republicans carrying water for Donald Trump.”
“If they can’t pass appropriations bills, and they’re going to try to distract and divert and play some politics, and that should be expected,” he said.
But Speaker Johnson said on Tuesday that Harris is the “co-owner, co-author, co-conspirator in all the policies that got us into the mess.”
After the president gave Harris the responsibility of addressing the crisis’s root causes, Republicans and several media outlets dubbed her the “border czar.”
This comes as a brand new poll shows that Trump is ahead of Harris in five of the seven crucial swing states, which will be crucial in deciding who wins the election.
According to an AtlasIntel survey of likely voters in battleground states, Trump leads in Pennsylvania (51 percent to 48.1) and Michigan (50.6 percent to 47.2).
The former president is also in a “narrow” lead in the states that are in doubt: Arizona (49.8 percent to 48.6), Georgia (49.6 percent to 49), and Wisconsin (49.7 percent to 48.2). This information was provided by AtlasIntel. In Nevada (50.5 percent to 47.7) and North Carolina (50.5 percent to 48.1), Harris is ahead.
538 voters chose AtlasIntel as the most reliable polling organization for the 2020 presidential contest. If the Republican takes the five battleground states that he presently leads in their polling, with Harris at 248 Electoral College votes, Trump would win the 2024 election with 290 Electoral College votes.
Between September 20 and 25, AtlastIntel conducted polls, with a margin of error of two to three percentage points.
Reacting to the poll results, a Trump spokesperson told Newsweek: “Americans are sick and tired of Kamala Harris and her failed policies that have led to skyrocketing inflation, an out-of-control border- and rampant crime that terrorizes communities. She is weak, failed, and dangerously liberal, and the American people know a fraud when they see one.”
According to the AtlasIntel poll, Trump would prevail in two of Harris’s most important “blue wall” battleground states.
Barring any unexpected outcomes elsewhere, Harris only has to win the three blue wall swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan to receive the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election.
In this case, Harris would also have to win the Electoral College in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which polls indicate she is likely to do.
In the four years that followed, Joe Biden successfully flipped the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska, which Trump had won in 2016. The only two states that do not use a winner-take-all method for allocating Electoral College votes are Maine and Nebraska.
In November, Trump will have enough votes to be proclaimed the winner even if he only wins Georgia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
In addition, Trump might prevail by defeating Harris in the four swing states of the Sun Belt: Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada; he might also win if he flips just one of Wisconsin or Michigan.
Some new polling data from firms that have been reliable in the past show former President Donald Trump on pace to potentially win a “landslide” electoral victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Polling data from Trafalgar Group and Insider Advantage now indicates that Trump is positioned for a potential landslide victory in the 2024 presidential election. The latest polling shows Trump with a commanding lead in several key battleground states, suggesting a solid path to victory in November.
The updated electoral map projects Trump with 296 electoral votes, compared to Kamala Harris’s 226.
Notably, Trump is making gains in swing states like Pennsylvania (+2.2), Michigan (+2.2), and Wisconsin (+1.1), which were pivotal in previous elections.
These states, typically leaning Democratic in close contests, seem to be shifting in favor of the former president.