Words mean things. And to Democrats, words are the only thing, which is why they are literally tying themselves in semantic knots over the southern border.
A few weeks ago, McClatchy News wrote, "There's a strong constituency among Democrats for border barriers. Just don't call it a concrete wall. While Democrats will not specify what they might propose next, one big clue came from [James] Clyburn [D-S.C.], a close Pelosi ally. Semantics matter, which is why he's calling enhanced security a 'smart wall.'"
On Feb. 11, NBC News reported, "Congressional negotiators said Monday night they had reached an 'agreement in principle' to prevent another partial government shutdown that would further fund border security but would include no money for President Donald Trump's border wall.
"The deal would match 2018's funding level for what officials described as new border fencing that could include steel slats and other 'existing technologies' but would not be a concrete wall. It would also provide an additional $1.7 billion for other Homeland Security priorities like new technology and more customs officers," multiple sources told NBC News.
I'm sure we've all heard the latest argument, that a concrete border wall is racist. It's like six degrees of separation. Anything with which the Democrats disagree will eventually lead back to racism.
Carl Bernstein says: "That – that – look at what we're talking about. We're talking about a wall here that is a symbol that says, 'brown people, we don't want you.' …"
CNN's Don Lemon claims "that the purpose of the wall is 'to blatantly attempt to stir up fear of people of color, of brown people. As my colleague Chris [Cuomo] calls, the brown menace.'"
So again – an inanimate concrete wall is racist because it symbolizes to brown people that we don't want you in America? Yet a 15 or 20 foot high steel slat border barrier doesn't symbolize the same? Is the huge and intimidating steel structure some kind of welcome wagon? What's the difference? The fact you can see through the steel slat barrier and you can't through the concrete wall?
Last I checked, there is an 11-to-13-foot-tall fence around the White House. This is to prevent what? Is it only to keep the brown people out? No, of course not. It's to prevent any illegal intruders like the many fence jumpers over the years. Walls and fences don't discriminate.
The only reason there's a fence around the White House and not a wall is visibility. A wall would impede the view. People want to be able to see the White House.
The bottom line is that for years, president Trump has been campaigning for a big beautiful concrete wall. The left's hatred and hostility toward him takes pre-eminence over everything – clouding what little judgment they have. If Trump wants it, they cannot allow it. No matter what the president and the Republicans offer the Dems, they will be forced to decline in order to placate their increasingly radical and unhinged base. Nothing is more important than denying Trump a victory.
However, they know they must give something, so they send their sycophantic minions in the press out, armed with the semantic playbook, to convince their radical leftist base that a wall is immoral and racist, and will prevent the "brown menace" from entering. It is entirely left unsaid that a large steel barrier will do the same.
And as their followers don't appear to be capable of any critical thought, they simply accept it, without question.