I have been looking at the polls on Real Clear Politics, and they show that Trump is leading in the Republican primary states by 25 to 40 points. Because he is already under two indictments and two more even more serious ones are on the way, you would think that the Republicans would think twice about wanting such a compromised individual as their candidate. You would think that they would conclude that – even if they thought he was God’s Gift to America – he would be likely to fail to garner enough support from others to allow him to be elected president next year. But no, they are convinced that he is the right candidate and that he will win.

So, I go and look at the polling for a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024 and, low and behold, most of them show the two virtually tied. That must mean that more than the hardcore Trump Republicans say that they will vote for him over Biden. That shows that the Trump Republicans might be right. Maybe he can be elected president again. In fact, a Harris-Harvard poll released over last weekend showed Trump handily beating Biden if the election were held today.

So there must be something so frightening about Biden and the Democrats that it would encourage people to vote for a four-time indicted former president, with an embarrassing past and an unhinged mind, who lies at the drop of a hat, and who has little regard for what have been traditional American values.

I heard the other day that the Republicans think that the Democrats are most vulnerable on the border and the economy. So, if I were a professional Democrat, that’s where I would concentrate, and I would hope that there might be some way to turn some people around.

First, the border. The one thing that gets lost in the border discussion is the state of the law. The Republicans say that we now have an “open” border, which obviously is an exaggeration, and some say that they want to “close” it, which is obviously impossible. But what does the law allow us to do? And why isn’t the focus on Congress’ inability to update the law to reflect a consensus of opinions?

I know that the Biden administration has recently instituted some changes at the border which have lessened illegal crossings, according to published statistics. The Republicans ignore these changes, and say that there has not been a reduction of people coming into the country, and that the only change is that a larger percentage of them have been designated as “legal” or pending determination of their status and have been let into the country willy-nilly, without any limitations as to their freedom to move about and get lost in the crowds. Who is right? And again, what does the law permit? Does anyone know the answer to this last question?

And then there’s the Trump wall. We have always had walls and other barriers – some were upgraded during the Trump years and a small amount of additional wall was built. I have always thought that, considering how many Americans are in favor of a wall, the Democrats should never have been so firmly anti-wall, and should have said that a wall works in some places and not others, that some kinds of walls work and some don’t, that walls simply move border activities to other areas in some instances, and that the existence of the wall is a technical question and should not be a political issue. But the Democratic polarization of the issue has just given the Republicans another argument that the Democrats want open borders.

What should happen? In my opinion, the administration should set forth an immigration policy that (a) talks about how much immigration we need to bolster and secure our economic growth, (b) how we select what type of immigration we need and what is practicable, (c) how the border can be controlled to implement that policy, and (d) how we should respond to emergencies (political emergencies or natural disasters) abroad with regard to permanent or temporary asylum. We also need to be clear as to what our laws are now and how they need to change to allow such a policy to be implemented. And we need an understanding of what our obligations are under international law. I don’t know the answer the any of these questions, but these are the ones the Democrats should pose and explain to the voters.

The Republicans also have their eyes on Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas. I don’t know what kind of a job Mayorkas is really doing – how much of the border issues are of his doing. He does not come across well in interviews and testimony (IMHO), and saving Mayorkas is not worth losing an election and if the opposition is so sure that Secretary Mayorkas is not the right guy for the job, I would ask him politely to step away, and I would appoint someone in his place to blunt this unnecessary issue.

It is clear that there are border problems, but I think the Democrats need to bring the entire immigration issue into clearer view and get it to the point where the Republican grandstanding looks like grandstanding and not potentially legitimate criticism.

On to the economy. As to the economy in general, the situation is even more confusing. The economy seems to be doing much better than anyone anticipated that it would be at this point – employment numbers, wages, low unemployment, lessening inflation and so forth. But the polls show that, by about 10 points or more, the nation believes that Biden is managing the economy poorly. Again, I get confused because it seems to me that the Democrats should be able to do a better job with this than they have been doing – it’s the message, stupid, not the economy.

I watch or listen to a fair number of Congressional hearings. It is clear what a hearing should be. An opportunity for Congressional representatives to hear from experts in a subject, or people affected by a particular policy, and ask them questions to enable them to explain their positions better. But too often this is far from what happens. More often, witnesses are chosen who agree with the majority party, so there is no exploration of varying positions. And even more often, the Senators and Representatives don’t ask questions at all – they simply make statements, and their statements are diatribes against the other political party. Nothing is gained from these hearings other than the chance for the politicians to get sound bites for their political ads, and having each of these politicians place themselves in positions where compromise with the other side on issues become impossible.

At a hearing on the southern border this week, questions were asked such as: Do you think terrible things are happening on the border? (Answer: yes) OK, do you think that the Biden administration is making things worse? (Answer: yes) OK, thank you for coming hear today to tell us what a horrible job the Biden administration is doing at the border……my time is up.

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I just reread this post. I can’t say that I like it. On the one hand, everything I have said is obvious, isn’t it? On the other, I don’t see a way out of the political morass that we find ourselves in right now. This post isn’t going to help, that’s for sure. Sometimes, I think we need the proverbial new broom that sweeps clean. But, of course, when I say that, I just sound like another Steve Bannon. And that is surely not what we need.

Meanwhile, we have a constitutional crisis looming in Alabama, and another one percolating on the Rio Grande in Texas.

You see why I am confused?