Previously: “Learned Nothing, Forgotten Nothing”—Texas Senator John Cornyn Leads GOP Establishment Rush To Dump Trumpism
“The U.S. has always been a nation of immigrants,” GOP Texas Sen. John Cornyn told newly arrived Afghan refugees last week. He further claimed that America has a “moral obligation” to import tens of thousands of unvetted Afghans who supposedly helped the 20-year disastrous war effort [Cornyn meets with Afghans, by Dianne Solis, Dallas Morning News, October 15, 2021]. Cornyn has always been at least mildly tough on immigration, as his career B report card with Numbers USA shows. But his latest on the Afghan influx suggests that he isn’t so good on The National Question as you might think. The problem: he just might become the next Senate majority leader. That would be a disaster because Cornyn is a Business First Republican who wants to ride out the nationalist wave in his party.
Cornyn is shifty on the Amnesty question; i.e., he’ll oppose particular proposals, but supports it on principle. Back in 2007, when the GOP told its rank-and-file that Amnesty was the only way for the party to survive, he resisted. And Cornyn was considered a key figure in mustering Republican opposition to the Gang of Eight Amnesty. He recently derided the Democrats’ immigration agenda as a “a sweeping Amnesty with no effort to control the growing immigration crisis and the southern border.” He continues to support a degree of border security and to oppose a total Amnesty [Democrats Scramble to Keep Immigration Overhaul Alive in Reconciliation Bill, by Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Luke Broadwater, New York Times, October 13, 2021].
But those are now the bare minimum in the party of Donald Trump, which has moved decisively to the right on immigration and border security. No longer do GOP voices warble about a pathway to citizenship for illegals. Nor do they pretend illegal immigration isn’t a problem. Even notorious moderates such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski aren’t open to Biden’s Amnesty proposals. So Cornyn’s stance on that doesn’t differ from the average Republican lawmaker’s.
But again, Cornyn does support Amnesty on principle, and in other legislation. While he opposes the proposed Amnesty in the budget reconciliation bill, he still believes that not passing “immigration reform”—Amnesty in everything but name—is “one of my biggest disappointments in my time in the Senate” [Biden win revives immigration talk, by Jordain Carney, The Hill, November 17, 2020]. Cornyn sponsored his own, smaller-scale Amnesty this summer. Along with North Carolina’s appalling Thom Tillis, Cornyn offered legislation that would give recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status—which was intended for illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as minors—permanent legal status. In July, he described this group as “the population with the most urgent need” [Cornyn, Tillis Call on Chairman Durbin to Take Up Targeted DACA Bill, Cornyn.Senate.gov, July 6, 2021].That doesn’t count Americans, of course
Cornyn’s proposal was crafted as a “compromise” to Democrats to moderate their demand for a grand Amnesty. Democrats rejected it. When he ran for re-election in 2020, he released a Spanish-language ad in which the narrator says he supported “legalization for DREAMers.”
And the DREAMer Amnesty is only one of Cornyn’s many missteps on immigration. Thus Cornyn opposed Texas’ refusal to accept refugees under a power granted by President Trump [Texas Senator Disagrees With Gov. Greg Abbott Over Refugees, by Igor Bobic, HuffPost, January 15, 2020].
Which brings us back to the Afghan refugees, who are already culturally enriching us with rape, child molestation, wife beating, and child brides [Afghan evacuee charged with rape in Montana, governor says, demanding resettlement halt, by Adam Shaw and Aishah Hasnie, Fox News, October 22, 2021]. During the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Cornyn urged the administration to take in as many Afghans as possible and claimed that military installations in Texas could house them. “My prayers at this point [are] we aren’t too late to get them out of the country,” he said [Americans prepare to welcome thousands of Afghan refugees, by Holly Bailey and Annie Gowen, Washington Post, August 20, 2021]. He also voted for a bill that continued to fund the resettlement of these unvetted refugees. But even apart from the unvetted Afghans who brought us rape and child abuse, the plain fact is that most did not work with the American military in Afghanistan.
Cornyn is also a fan of “guest workers.” In July, as he was pushing for legalization of DACA recipients, he promised Democrats he would push fellow Republicans to increase the number of H-2B seasonal visas [Businesses banking on a summer boom face foreign worker shortage, by Rebecca Rainey, Politico, July 4, 2021]. Fortunately, this hasn’t happened yet, but give it time. Cornyn is open to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would legalize hundreds of thousands of illegal-alien farm workers. He doesn’t necessarily support the bill as passed by the House, but he is happy to work on changes to get it through the Senate [Senate Republicans lukewarm on House’s ag labor bill, by Jacqui Fatka, Farm Futures, July 22, 2021]. He joined Democrat senators on legislation to give “unused” visas to thousands of foreign doctors and nurses. In 2020, he joined fellow squishes such as Lindsey Grahamnesty to demand Trump continue to allow guest workers in the country at the height of the COVID lockdowns. “We write today to urge you to consider the important role non-immigrant temporary visa programs will play in aiding post-pandemic economic recovery in America,” their letter stated [Republicans Set to Block Trump’s Guest Worker Immigration Pause, by Jason Hopkins, Daily Caller, May 28, 2020].
No wonder he rated only a C-plus from Numbers USA on its 2019–2021 report card, with a D-minus specifically on the matter of guest workers.
Beyond all that, Cornyn ran from Trump just before the 2020 election. He disagreed with some of POTUS 45’s immigration policies, such as Trump’s decision to use Pentagon funding to build a border wall.
Beside immigration, the Texas senator is particularly bad when it comes to racial issues. He was the lead Republican advocate for making Juneteenth a federal holiday. “The passage of this bill represents a big step in our nation’s journey toward equality,” he said when it passed the Senate in June. He also attacked the few brave GOP critics who rightly fought the anti-white holiday, accurately calling it anti-American. He said hard-line Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale and like-minded Republicans are “kooky.”
Cornyn also fell for the Great Floyd Hoax of 2020. Consider this list:
And Cornyn is no friend of American heritage. Thus he backed efforts to rename military bases honoring Confederate generals because the country must look “forward” instead of “backward” [John Cornyn signals openness to removing Confederate names from military bases, by Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune, June 12, 2020].
A funny thing about the former majority whip: he once got in hot water for warning about demographic change. In 2019, he tweeted out that Hispanics were replacing whites in his home state.
Texas gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident last year https://t.co/rbjpkzMGwf via @TexasTribune
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 22, 2019
That provoked widespread condemnation as a racial dog whistle. But he now appears to think the issue is no problem for him as he comes to terms with the dispossession of the Historic American Nation.
All this explains why Cornyn will be so dangerous if he succeeds Mitch McConnell, who turns 80 next year and might step down following the 2022 midterms. Cornyn is well positioned to get McConnell’s job thanks to his long standing in Senate leadership [John Cornyn eyes Senate GOP leadership role, by Bethany Irvine, Texas Tribune, September 21, 2021]. And it would be terrible for immigration patriots. While McConnell is no hero to our side, he at least knows not to work with Democrats on immigration. Cornyn does not share this trait.
Democrats see him as the man to get Republicans to move left on immigration and sell out the Historic American Nation. He led a bipartisan group of senators to work out an immigration compromise in April. While Democrats praised him, it fortunately didn’t bear any fruit [Bipartisan group of senators holds immigration talks amid border surge, by Alexander Bolton, The Hill, April 21, 2021]. That could very well change if he’s the GOP Senate leader.
Cornyn illustrates how the corrupt old guard of the GOP still clings to the discredited ideas of yesterday and resists the nationalism unleashed by Trump. Genuine America Firsters must make it their mission to sideline and replace these out-of-touch leaders. It’s time to put the nation first, not business first.
And that means saying NO to mass immigration and anti-white holidays.
Washington Watcher II [Email him] is an anonymous DC insider.
