No, I am not crazy. Follow along for some fun.
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Tom Homan, the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to serve as his “border czar.” Trump chose Homan, rather than nominating him, because “czars” do not require Senate confirmation.
Trump described this position:
I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders (“The Border Czar”), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security. I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.
As NPR describes:
The term czar is used — sometimes by headline writers, sometimes by the White House — to describe an official that a president designates to coordinate the government’s response to a specific issue, usually one that is time-sensitive.
Political science professor Mitch Sollenberger is more specific in defining the roles of an administration czar:
A non-Senate confirmed position that has final decision-making authority over budgets, policy areas [and] can promulgate rules, regulations as well that impact other government officials and even the private sector.
In other words, a czar acts as the president’s representative or emissary on a specific issue. This is neither new nor controversial, except when Donald Trump appoints one.
Most presidents since Woodrow Wilson have appointed czars. Barack Obama had nearly 30 czars for issues including climate change, terrorism, green jobs, auto bailouts, and the closure of GITMO, which caused the late Sen. John McCain to observe: “Obama has more czars than the Romanovs.”
Even President Joe Biden has czars, the most noteworthy being Vice President Kamala Harris, who served as his border czar. Once she was running for president and her dismal failure to secure the border was on display, corporate media quickly backtracked and denied her role.
For fun, watch this YouTube montage of media cranks calling her a czar before denying it, forgetting that the internet is forever, but reminded that their credibility is as transient as a puff of smoke.
What does Hillary Clinton have to do with any of this?
Screen shot (cropped, detail) from New York Times website banner // fair use
If Tom Homan cannot serve as Trump’s border czar, a previous version of Hillary Clinton could readily do so. Otherwise, Clinton could serve as Homan’s number two, his deputy, assistant, or wingman.
You must think I am in Biden’s dementia land. But I assure you I am not. Let’s go back to 2007, during Clinton’s first failed presidential run. Specifically, on Nov. 7, 2007, when a younger and more articulate Hillary Clinton spoke at an Iowa town hall meeting.
Here is a video, for the misinformation fact-checkers out there, from the gospel of misinformation, the New York Times. Her words with my comments [in brackets],
People are trying to cope with what is ultimately a failure of the federal government. The President and Congress have failed. [Biden, McConnell, McCarthy, Ryan, and all Democrats]
You’ve got to toughen border security. You can’t continue to have open borders. You’ve got to put more personnel and technology along the borders to make sure we know who’s coming into our country and prevent people from entering illegally. That has got to be priority number one. [Biden/Harris’s only priority is an open border]
You’ve got to crack down on employers who employ undocumented workers. [meaning Wall Street Journal and Chamber of Commerce Republicans]
You need much tougher sanctions, much tougher penalties. [Trump’s threatened tariffs as an example]
I don’t think the taxpayers of any county, city, or state should have to pay the cost for health care education, law enforcement, as a result of a federal problem than not fixing the immigration system. [Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston spent $356 million taxpayer funds on migrants. Illegal immigration is costing U.S. taxpayers $150 billion a year, 2% of the federal budget]
You know, there are a lot of decent, hardworking people who are here as our documented workers. [Those who followed U.S. law, migrating here legally, playing by the rules, waiting in line if necessary]
We think we got about 12 million people here who are undocumented. [That was in 2007; it’s much more now].
The way things are now, they’re basically just being given a chance to do what they really want to, because we don’t have an immigration law. [Actually, we do, but the ruling class chooses not to enforce the law]
If they ever committed a crime either in the country they came from or in this country, deport them immediately, no questions asked. If they’d been here and been lawful, then I think they got to pay fines, pay back taxes, they got to try to learn English, and they got a wait in line. [Trump promised, “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.”]
They can’t get ahead of anybody else who’s been here legally and waiting. And they have to stay out of trouble and keep working and be law-abiding, and maybe in 10 or 15 years, they can get legalization. [This sounds like Trump’s plan of prioritizing deportation of criminal illegals and, for those who self-deport, the opportunity to get in line and migrate to the US legally]
Joking aside, it’s interesting how far Democrats have shifted to the left over the past two decades. Clinton’s approach above would be a bridge too far for many congressional Republicans who prefer open borders to appease their political donors. For Clinton’s Democrat colleagues, her ideas would be dead on arrival.
Another example is in 2006 when Hillary Clinton was the junior senator from New York, she published her views on immigration. She used the term illegal or unlawful “alien” in the statement 17 times. Today that term is racist/sexist/Nazi/fascist/homophobic/xenophobic or any of the current slurs-de-jour directed against Trump and his supporters.
Beginning in 2012, “illegal immigrant” was considered a slur. The AP Stylebook no longer sanctions the term or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. The Biden administration also rejects the terms “illegal alien” and “assimilation,” replacing them with “undocumented noncitizen” and “integration.” However, new words don’t change reality.
It’s ironic that Hillary Clinton, 20 years ago, viewed and spoke about illegal immigration in a way similar to Donald Trump and his future border czar, Tom Homan. Most of Clinton’s fellow Democrats held similar opinions.
How and why did Hillary Clinton shift so far to the left? One reason is that her 2007 stance was likely disingenuous, catering to an electorate that was already concerned about illegal immigration.
Another reason is Mr. “Fundamental Transformation of America,” who pushed his party from liberal to Marxist, leaving his administrative state embeds in place to maintain leftist pressure through the Trump and Biden presidencies.
How interesting that Hillary Clinton from 20 years ago and Donald Trump today share similar views on the border and immigration, and that old Clinton could give Tom Homan a run for his money as border czar.
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph, and Email brianjoondeph@gmail.com.
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