Kevin writes that it’s a mystery to him “that conservatives are so miserable at the moment, when they are presented with such a desirable choice” between Cruz and Rubio. Let me explain.
There’s no doubt that both “are self-conscious conservatives in the sense that they are products of the conservative movement,” as Kevin says, “in a way that no president has been since Ronald Reagan.” I’ll even concede that Rubio got into bed with Schumer because he was auditioning for the job of Republican We Can Do Business With, a deal-maker who can get things done, and a deal on immigration seemed like a good place to start.
But there are two factors that might help resolve Kevin’s mystery. First, as I argue on the homepage today, immigration is not just another issue. It impacts every aspect of policy, and is irreversible. Angela Merkel’s conservative bona fides are irrelevant next to the damage she has done to her country. If Rubio were to change his tune on immigration after winning the election (as he’s done after winning every previous election), nothing else he did would matter.
And the chances of that happening are greater than Kevin thinks. He writes that, “our hypothetical President Rubio is never going to sign that amnesty bill because Congress isn’t ever going to send it to him.” He could be right – If Rubio wins, I certainly hope that’s the way it would play out. But the House has different leadership than in 2013. While John Boehner was basically in favor of a Gang of Eight-style policy of amnesty for illegals and massive expansion of legal immigration, he wasn’t an ideologically committed supporter of unlimited immigration like Paul Ryan. Remember, in 2013-2014, Ryan worked with Luis Gutierrez to pass a version of the Senate bill, just as Rubio had worked with Schumer. With Ryan as Speaker and Rubio in the White House, the odds that they’d try again are greater than we should be comfortable with, especially when the anti-borders interests would take a Rubio victory as proof that you can push amnesty and increased immigration and live to tell about it.
This notion that Marco Rubio doesn’t know what he’s doing is just not true.