It’s the Iran War, Stupid.

Republicans’ only play this year is to talk about deporting criminalsOn a recent New York Times podcast, columnist E.J. Dionne claimed that the “key” to Trump’s “ victory in 2024 was his promise “to bring order to the southern border,” but instead — for some inexplicable reason — he “launched this massive campaign” to deport illegals.

Great analysis, except Trump never promised to “bring order” to the border. That was Kamala.

Trump’s promises were slightly more grand. In particular, he said — repeatedly — that he would implement “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.” His immigration plans were memorialized in panicked Times headlines like these:

“Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans” (Nov. 11, 2023)

“Trump Says He Would Try Again to Revoke Haitian Immigrants’ Protections” (Oct. 3, 2024)

“What if Trump Deported Millions of Immigrants?” (Oct. 22, 2024)

“Trump’s Deportation Vow Fuels Fear and a Potential Showdown in New York” (Nov. 9, 2024)

For proposing an immigration crackdown that appalled the Times’ newsroom, he was rewarded on Election Day with a sweep of all seven battleground states, a majority of the popular vote and a newly Republican Senate.

No Republicans proposed to bring “order” to the border. Under Biden, the border had plenty of “order,” in the sense that the 20 million foreigners sneaking into this country did so with a minimum of pushing and shoving.

To avoid the mayhem of throngs of people rushing our border, the Biden administration gave third-worlders an app to schedule their illegal crossings, whereupon Border Patrol would dust them off and direct them to the nearest welfare office. True, this was a direct violation of federal law as well as traitorous, but the one thing you couldn’t say was that it lacked order.

It was Democrats who ran on bringing yet more “order” to the border, meaning they wanted illegals to be admitted even faster.

For Dionne to confuse Trump with Kamala on immigration deserves some kind of award. I’d say we’ve found the stupidest mammal in North America, except the other two Times podcasters agreed with Dionne! Columnist Jamelle Bouie redoubled the idiocy, saying “when Trump says that he’s going to bring order, I think what voters hear is that he’s going to make the line work better.”

I mention this not to point out that Dionne and his fellow Times cognoscenti are abject morons, but because they’re about to do it again. Democrats appear to be cruising to victory in the midterms for one reason: The Iran War. Assuming the blue wave comes — in fact, if Democrats flip any seats — we’ll get the same rewriting of history as Dionne gave us.

2024: Trump wins massive victory by vowing to carry out “mass deportations.”

The media a year later: He said he was only going bring order to the border!

2026: Democrats run against the Iran War and win.

The media next year: The midterms prove Americans want to abolish ICE!

No matter how clear voters are about wanting more deportations and fewer wars, we’re always told that what they really want is fewer deportations and more wars. Coincidentally, that is what the big donors of both parties want.

So it’s worth mentioning right now — five weeks before the election — that Trump’s single most popular issue is immigration and his least popular is the Iran War (plus the inextricably linked high gas prices and inflation).

Every Democrat in the U.S. Congress has voted to end the war — except Sen. John Fetterman, and his own party thinks he’s a Republican. Every Democrat running for office this year is vocally opposed to the Iran War.

It’s a good issue for them. Polls show that nearly 90% of Democrats and 70% of independents oppose military action in Iran. (Dems aren’t great on 80-20 issues like trans rights, but they rule on the 90%-10% stuff.)

According to a recent Fox News poll, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on only one issue: immigration. While Democrats are favored 55%-40% on inflation, and 53%-43% on foreign policy, voters still prefer Republicans on immigration 49%-48%.

Moreover, respondents rank immigration the third “most important issue facing the country today,” just after inflation and the economy. The Iran War comes in sixth. (Climate change is 614th.)

Just for fun, let’s compare recent New York Post headlines.

“Fox News Poll: Majority says immigration enforcement has crossed the line.” Upon review, the “majority” turns out to be a bare 53%. That’s about as good as it gets for Trump these days.

But with overwhelming majorities opposing the Iran War, the Post’s headline was: “Iran back producing ballistic missiles despite US claims after Operation Epic Fury.” The poll showing only 31% supporting the war was slipped in at the end of the article.

That’s New York Times-level deviousness. You’d never know Post publisher Rupert Murdoch supports constant war and open borders.

Perhaps Republicans should pay more attention to voters than a pro-war propaganda sheet. You know what’s even more popular than hating the Iran War? Deporting felons. That’s favored by 94% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats. You couldn’t get that many Americans to agree that Lindsay Clancy should get her tubes tied.

If there’s any hope in an election year dominated by an unpopular war (notwithstanding the Post woo hoo – we’re winning!), it lies in the mass deportation of criminals.

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