During a Monday appearance on CNN to tout his disastrous border bill, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) attacked Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his criticism of the measure. Rather than using the facts to respond to Musk’s argument, Lankford attempted to smear Musk over supposed issues with Tesla vehicles.
The Senate “bipartisan” border deal negotiated by Lankford, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats has been widely condemned for failing to actually secure the border. While giving away billions of taxpayer dollars to fund the Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war and aid for Hamas-run Gaza, the legislation barely allocates any money for the border crisis in comparison.
The Bipartisan "Boarder Bill" has been introduced
It includes 👇
– $60B of military aid to Ukraine
– $14B in military aid to Israel
– $20B for actual border security pic.twitter.com/vVUEG9MWtl— Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker ♟ (@PelosiTracker_) February 5, 2024
Lankford and his Democrat allies claim that the bill is meant to secure the border, but it has since been proven that the measure would actually codify many of President Joe Biden’s open-borders policies. The bill would reportedly allow up to 8,500 illegal aliens to enter the U.S. per day before triggering any sort of action from the federal government, while also providing expedited work visas for illegal aliens to steal American jobs.
According to the text of the bill, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “shall activate the border emergency authority if during a period of seven consecutive calendar days, there is an average of 5,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day; or on any 1 calendar day, a combined total of 8,500 or more aliens are encountered.”
And there it is… what Sinema and Lankford swore wasn’t in the bill.
It guarantees that up to 1.8 million illegal aliens can come over our border before it’s an emergency pic.twitter.com/i05pNH29YV
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 5, 2024
Musk pointed out these issues in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In the “bet-you-didn’t-know” category,
Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas issued written guidance making it clear that:1. Illegal presence alone is not grounds for deportation.
2. Criminal charges, convictions or gang membership alone are not enough for deportation.
You…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2024
One such post was cited by CNN host Jake Tapper during Lankford’s interview, where Musk alleged that the “long-term goal of the so-called ‘Border Security’ bill is enabling illegals to vote! It will do the total opposite of securing the border.”
The long-term goal of the so-called “Border Security” bill is enabling illegals to vote!
It will do the total opposite of securing the border. https://t.co/InPW11ONJH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2024
Musk further explained his concern in a follow-up post, writing: “Many states automatically register anyone with a driver’s license to vote (no citizenship verification), ballots are then mailed out and ‘ballot harvesters’ pick them up mail them in, making fraud traceability impossible.”
Many states automatically register anyone with a driver’s license to vote (no citizenship verification), ballots are then mailed out and “ballot harvesters” pick them up mail them in, making fraud traceability impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2024
Tapper asked Lankford about Musk’s comments, stating: “Now I know that Elon Musk is not an expert on illegal immigration or the border, but he has a huge megaphone. Explain what he’s talking about here. Is he wrong?”
Instead of trying to refute Musk’s assertions, Lankford decided to try to insult the Tesla CEO over supposedly “recalled” vehicles — which were not actually recalled in the traditional sense, as the issue was solved with simple software updates.
The Oklahoma senator responded to Tapper by stating that Musk should “go back to doing the 2 million Teslas that are currently being recalled right now.”
“No it’s not focused on trying to be able to get more illegals to vote, that’s absurd. It’s against the law for anyone that is not a citizen of the United States to be able to vote in the United States in any federal election. Obviously, we’re not dealing with that,” Lankford claimed, ignoring the actual concerns brought up by Musk about automatic voter registration.
WOW. When challenged by Elon Musk’s criticism of the border bill, Senator Lankford attacks Musk over “2 million Teslas getting recalled.” pic.twitter.com/ZDS3Se8SuV
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 5, 2024