Last week, Michael Williams began wrapping up his Republican campaign for governor with a tour in his "deportation bus," a gray behemoth of the school variety, decorated with words intended to inflame.
On one side: “Fill this bus with illegals.” On the rear: “Murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molestors (a dictionary wasn’t at hand), and other criminals on board. Follow me to Mexico.”
One could argue that Williams was merely trying one-up his GOP rivals. Secretary of State Brian Kemp had already boasted of his monster pick-up truck – “Just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take’ em home myself.”
And Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle had promised to send the Georgia National Guard to the Mexican border, where it would – well, that part wasn’t particularly clear.
But throughout this campaign, Williams has fancied himself something of a performance artist. Though he describes himself as a millionaire who’s “self-funding” his campaign, as of mid-week, Williams had purchased only $5,000 or so is radio air-time for his campaign’s closing arguments. On stations in Savannah and Brunswick.
Performances are cheap by comparison, but require drama. So rather than a “pansy political bus tour,” Williams promised excitement and confrontation, with stops in Gainesville, Clarkston, Decatur, Athens – all communities that have shown support for strangers from foreign lands.
“We’re not just going to track them and watch them roam around our state. We’re going to put them on this bus and send them home,” Williams said. There’s nothing more empowering, and more Southern, than the promise of vigilantism.
The free-media scam worked, to a degree. Many national news outlets tut-tutted over his YouTube video, which had been seen nearly 100,000 times by Thursday. Some even noted that Williams had registered only 3 percent support in the latest poll by an Atlanta TV station – a survey with a margin of error of 5.1 percentage points.
At a DeKalb County stop, an anonymous caller dialed 911 and told police that protesters had become violent. But cops on the scene said they saw nothing of the sort. And Cracker Barrel, the restaurant chain, has told Williams to keep his bus off their property.
Think about that. When you’ve ticked off Cracker Barrel, your chances in a GOP primary have become slim indeed.
Even in conservative north Georgia, the Dahlonega Nugget reports, Williams was greeted on Saturday morning by a mariachi band.
On Tuesday, Williams will be out of the race for governor. But give the man some credit: His deportation bus will travel on, in one fashion or another.
We’ve seen guns and the Second Amendment dominate the first phase of the Republican race for governor. Odds are good that two survivors will engage in a nine-week runoff. The topic likely to dominate Phase II: Immigration, illegal and otherwise.
We know this because Republicans in Congress are drawing a red line between so-called “dream kids” and the November elections.
In the U.S. House, a small knot of moderate Republicans – from swing districts, from areas with high Hispanic populations, or retiring – are attempting to go around Speaker Paul Ryan and bring a compromise on immigration to the floor for a vote.
The gist of several proposals under consideration: Citizenship or legal status for those covered by the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in exchange for partial funding of President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico.
As of Thursday, 20 GOP members of the House had signed onto the “discharge petition.” Five more would be needed to create a majority alliance with Democrats that would force the issue.
The tactic amounts to a “Hail, Mary” pass. The maneuver, a bald challenge to the leadership of the ruling party, has rarely succeeded in the past.
And it would violate the longstanding “Hastert rule” that Republicans have abided by in the post-Newt Gingrich era – and which has contributed significantly to the polarized atmosphere in Washington. No legislation is brought to the floor unless it has won majority support in the Republican caucus.
But those are all secondary reasons for opposition.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Cal., hopes to replace Ryan as House speaker next year. At a closed meeting with GOP colleagues, reported by Poltico.com, McCarthy said resolution of the immigration issue could threaten the GOP's hold on the chamber. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi becomes a distinct possibility.
The quotes collected by Politico were blunt. “Intensity levels are still not there, and discharge petitions release the power of the floor that the American people gave us the responsibly to hold,” McCarthy was quoted as saying. “When you release that power, the majority goes to Nancy.”
“If you want to depress intensity, this is the No. 1 way to do it. We can debate internally but don’t let someone else like Nancy decide our future,” McCarthy was quoted as saying.
Immigration has become a purist’s game. Any deal that smacks of bipartisanship is a betrayal of the base, and – in this instance – a threat to Republican control of Congress.
And that’s why the deportation bus will keep rolling in Georgia, long after Michael Williams’ campaign has run out of gas.
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