The rather overused term “tone-deaf” doesn’t even begin to describe the performance from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest today in defense of Team Obama’s actions to combat the current crisis on the border. In a rather shocking display of sheer lunacy, Earnest insisted that “we’re seeing the benefit” of the Obama administration’s investment in border security right before our very eyes (see the video above). If that’s the case, can we please get our taxpayer money back? Sheesh. We are indeed seeing the result of the administration’s efforts — or lack thereof — to address our porous border. But “benefit” is the last adjective in the world I’d ever use to describe it.

And the madness didn’t end there in today’s briefing. Take a look:

That would be NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, questioning Secretary Earnest on what could possibly be the downside of Obama actually visiting the border, which he is so vehemently opposed to doing that even some on the Left are calling it his “Katrina Moment.” As you can see, Earnest offered no reasonable answer. This seems to be yet another decision that the president has dug in his heels on…and it will also make him once again look like an utter fool if he eventually relents and makes a border appearance after meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry (who can be more persuasive than you might think).

Earnest spent much of the remainder of today’s briefing defending the administration’s $3.7 billion dollar request in “emergency” funds to address the crisis, but offered few explanations for why it appears that the bulk of that money will go towards helping illegals, rather than actually beefing up the border to help stop all of this from happening in the first place. He repeatedly insisted that the money is needed so that the Department of Homeland Security can exercise “greater discretion,” whatever that means. The term is so vague that I can almost guarantee some questionable plans are afoot.

The Press Secretary also asserted that Obama will make no effort to try and offset that huge funding request with commensurate budget cuts. But that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.