Bill Press: Boehner can’t be so dumb

It’s exactly as The Hill reported, but I still refuse to believe it — I refuse to believe that House Republicans could be so dumb.

Consider the context, in light of what we’ve experienced over the last two months: Terrorists killed 12 people at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7; two days later, a terrorist gunman killed four people in a Paris kosher market; in two separate attacks in February, a homegrown terrorist killed two people in Copenhagen; last week, three men from Brooklyn were arrested on charges of attempting and conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), one of whom was picked up at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he was boarding a flight to Turkey; and FBI Director James Comey warned that, here in the United States, the presence of ISIS is evident in all 50 states.

We are, in other words, and based on real recent events, perhaps in more danger now than ever before of homegrown terrorist attacks — by foreign fighters returned home or long-wolf sympathizers emboldened to strike on their own. 

And what’s the response of many House Republicans to meet that threat? They want to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.

{mosads}Are they serious? Shut down, among other agencies, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency when we face more terrorist threats than ever? Can they possibly be that dumb? 

Senate Republicans know that’s a bad idea. Senate Democrats know that’s a bad idea. The Senate voted 98-2 to reject it. 

House Democrats know it’s a bad idea. Many sane House Republicans know it’s a bad idea. Only a minority of House Republicans insist on shutting down the DHS — and Speaker John Boehner, abandoning any sign of leadership, is letting that minority call the shots.

Everybody knows that shutting down the DHS would be a disaster for our country. Here’s what I don’t understand: How would this possibly be good for the Republican Party? 

What if, God forbid, we were to suffer a terrorist attack on American soil in the meantime? Do House Republicans really want to be responsible for shutting down the cops while criminals are at the front door? 

It makes you wonder: Why are they so obsessed with shutting down the DHS? Because, say House Republicans, they don’t like two executive orders President Obama signed to protect some 5 million people — who came here, or were brought here by their parents, illegally — from deportation. You must ask again: Are they serious? Aside from the fact that defunding Homeland Security has NOTHING TO DO with Obama’s executive orders because, according to the House Appropriations Committee, they are self-funded, are House Republicans really willing to shut down this crucial department during a time of heightened terrorist threats, just because they don’t agree with the president on immigration? 

And then the best they can do is agree to keep the DHS open for one more week — as if that will change anything. 

From beginning to end, the way House Republicans have dealt with the funding of the DHS has been petty, shortsighted, amateur and embarrassing. Can House Republicans, can Speaker John Boehner, really be so dumb? 

Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Show” on Free Speech TV and author of The Obama Hate Machine.