Key House Dem committee chair refuses to rule out border wall

Tick, tick, tick...the resistance to a border wall among House Democrats slowly is crumbling. Boss Pelosi still maintains a posture of absolute opposition ("not one dollar..."), but among her troops, doubt of the wisdom of that position is appearing. Yesterday, on ABC's This Week, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee – with jurisdiction over a wall – expressed an unwillingness to oppose a wall without reservations.

Kudos to Martha Raddatz for presenting the case for a wall to Chairman Bennie Thompson and questioning his party's blanket opposition. Rep. Thompson is a 25-year veteran of the House and represents the Second District of Mississippi, consisting of much of the city of Jackson and western Mississippi. It is 63.5% black. Translation: He is in a safe seat and able to speak his mind. He probably has a lot of lower-income federal workers feeling the pinch in his district. This is entirely consistent with the "Xanatos Gambit" strategy that President Trump seems to be employing. Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.