You can always rely on Stephen King to cut through the trash. Today it’s the former White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany who he’s got in his sights.
The horror author called out McEnany for peddling “a pack of lies” on X. The clip King is responding to comes from Fox News where the secretary-turned-political commentator appeared to criticize President Joe Biden’s policies regarding immigration and border security.
McEnany claims that over five million immigrants have crossed the southwest border. She goes on to ask if there is any sort of vetting system, claiming, “They say we do, doesn’t appear we do,” before citing recent cases that have seen women killed by individuals in the country waiting for their asylum claims to be processed.
Considering what a prolific writer King is, when it comes to his responses on X, he’s a man of few words; his take-downs are short and sweet. McEnany is certainly bending the truth to fit her narrative a bit here, but what does King mean when he says it’s a pack of lies? I feel some elaboration might be necessary in this context.
The facts on unauthorized arrivals
Unauthorized arrivals to the U.S. have been on the increase in recent years, but how much of that can be blamed on Biden? Back at the start of his presidency, Biden reversed a number of harsh policies implemented by Trump, which was a popular move at the time — Trump’s barbaric zero-tolerance approach saw families being separated, with the parents being sent back and the children remaining in government custody.
Let’s not forget that it was also Donald Trump who influenced the GOP to kill Biden’s bill that would’ve tightened border control and offered more support to Ukraine, as reported by NBC. And why would Trump want to put a stop to such a deal you might ask? Because it would’ve hurt his election campaign! If Biden’s border policies were successful, Trump would’ve lost some ammunition in his 2024 political race. With Biden’s deal killed at first sight, however, he can now point to the president’s failed border policies compared to his own.
Biden’s recent policies on border control
Despite this, there has been a drop in unauthorized entries into the U.S. in 2024, as well as more than a 40% drop in border arrests in the last three weeks, according to an article from Newsweek. The Biden-Harris Administration was able to strike up an agreement with the Mexican government to stop migrants from getting to the border. Biden’s recent executive actions suspended the asylum process to stem the flow of too many asylum seekers crossing the border, including in the agreement humanitarian exceptions such as “human trafficking, unaccompanied minors and those with severe medical emergencies.”
So to go back to what McEnany was saying about the Biden administration not going on the offensive — she’s being intentionally deceptive it seems and King was right to call out the lies. The recent months have seen more done to prevent unauthorized entry to the country, and while it may not be perfect, it’s a far cry better than what Trump had — and still has — in mind.
We’ve seen that play out once, and hopefully, we never will again.
