Republican strategist Mike Murphy predicted that the rising southern border and the unprecedented number of children in U.S. custody would become a political tool for the Republican Party to rally its base against the Biden administration and divert attention from former President Trump’s failures in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
“There are people within the Republican Party who say, ‘Look, we can change the subject of the debate over Biden’s action on the coronavirus … compared to Trump’s failures, the border disaster,” Murphy said. Wednesday. “That’s our score, that means the debate is going our way.”
The Biden administration has defended its treatment of the situation on the Mexican border. Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas has attributed the dire state of the U.S. immigration system to Trump administration policies.
Murphy told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that he could see Trump “ignite the fog horn on the right and start the machine of political guilt.”
Murphy, a political analyst at NBC News, said he believes there is a lot of political fear within the Republican Party to move forward on a path to citizenship.
He said Republicans are unlikely to pass legislation in part because of “the shadow of Donald Trump and the vengeful Trump primary candidates coming after you in the Republican primaries.”
The White House was not immediately available for comment.