admin
If you watched the White House circus this week, you saw exactly what Fox’s Chad Pergram called “absolute chaos” unfolding on live television as the DHS funding fight plunged the capital into disarray. Lawmakers bickered while essential homeland security functions hung in the balance, and ordinary Americans were left wondering who in Washington actually puts the country first. The visual of a government that can’t manage its basic funding because elites play political theater is a damning indictment of the current leadership class.
Senate Democrats quietly cut a deal to carve DHS funding out of the larger appropriations fight, offering a two-week extension meant to buy time for more immigration and ICE negotiations rather than solve the underlying crisis at the border. That maneuver was a classic Washington dodge — patching the leak for a couple of weeks while leaving the underlying failures untouched. Conservative voters should recognize this for what it is: delay dressed up as governance, with the bill left to be paid later by taxpayers and law-and-order Americans.
Even with the temporary patch in the Senate, the House was frozen by logistics and partisan posturing, and the partial shutdown dragged into a second day as negotiators squabbled over the details. Democrats have signaled reluctance to fully back any plan that doesn’t include wide-ranging ICE constraints, forcing Republicans into a position of either capitulation or being blamed for chaos. The result has been a tragic show of dysfunction that leaves federal workers, border agents, and citizens caught in the middle.
Speaker Mike Johnson has been in the hot seat, rightly insisting the House did its job by passing comprehensive funding bills even as the Senate chose to split the package. Johnson told reporters the Senate breakthrough was “long overdue,” and he made clear he expected the House to reconvene and act — a recognition that gridlock is a failed leadership strategy, not a winning one. Conservatives should applaud any leader who tries to force accountability rather than kneel to endless negotiation theater.
At the same time, Johnson quietly backed the president’s play to accept a short-term DHS split, a move that irritated many on the right who saw it as giving Democrats more leverage over immigration enforcement. There’s a kernel of political realism in Johnson’s posture — governing requires compromise sometimes — but there’s a difference between compromise and ceding the principled fight to secure the border and protect law enforcement. Republican voters deserve leaders who keep the eye on the prize: secure borders, funded agents, and a return to the rule of law.
Make no mistake: this mess is the predictable outcome of an establishment that prefers headline compromises over durable solutions. Democrats exploit every procedural trick to extract concessions, and too many Republicans are willing to take the short-term relief while sacrificing long-term security. Hardworking Americans are tired of leadership that treats the federal budget like a bargaining chip in an endless political chess match while our communities suffer the consequences.
Conservatives must channel righteous anger into pressure — not just on Democrats, but on any Republican who won’t stand for real border security and accountable DHS policy. Demand votes, not postures; demand policies that secure our country, not temporary patches designed for headline relief. If the GOP wants to win and keep the country safe, it must stop negotiating from the knees and start governing from principle.
