BREAKING NEWS
 
A White House meeting between President Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer ended just moments ago.  Sen. Schumer angrily told reporters that the "president just got up and walked out." 
 
Here's why:  Democrats are still refusing to negotiate.  In a tweet, President Trump explained what happened:
 
"Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!"
 
Kudos to the president for standing strong!

Trump's Address
 
During his Oval Office prime time address to the nation last night, President Trump presented an excellent case to the American people for why he is insisting on additional resources for serious border security. 
 
The president correctly pointed out that "America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants who enrich our society and contribute to our nation." 
 
He also noted that uncontrolled illegal immigration is a burden on taxpayers, hurts American workers (especially minorities) and endangers our national security.
 
Here are some of the key points he made:

• 2,000 inadmissible migrants arrive at our border every day.
• ICE has arrested 266,000 aliens with criminal records in the last two years.
• This includes aliens charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, nearly 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings.
• 300 Americans die every week from heroin, 90% of which comes across our Southern Border.
• 1 in 3 migrant women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek to the border.

President Trump said he was determined to end this "cycle of human suffering," and he is right to do so.  He ended his address by urging the American people to call their members of Congress at 202-224-3121 to demand funding for the border wall.  I join him in urging calls to Capitol Hill.
 
 
 
The Empathy Argument
 
The left loves to talk about empathy.  It demands empathy for almost everything -- for illegal immigrants, for Islamists, for men who want to use the women's bathroom. 
But it has zero empathy for American citizens victimized by illegal aliens. 
 
I was particularly pleased to hear the president refute one of Nancy Pelosi's talking points in language similar to what I have used before.  Here's what he said:
 
"Some have suggested a barrier is immoral.  Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes?  They don't build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside. 
 
"The only thing that is immoral is the politicians [who] do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized."
 
One of the lawful immigrants President Trump spoke of who "enrich our society and contribute to our nation" was California Police Officer Ronil Singh.  The president noted that Singh was killed by a criminal alien, whose family then tried to smuggle him back to Mexico. 
 
There was zero empathy from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein or Gov. Gavin Newsom for Officer Singh.
 
The president wants to make sure we don't forget people like Ronil Singh and that we look out for our citizens first.  As he said in his address last night, "How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?"
 
 
 
America First
 
Left-wing commentators and politicians were quick to denounce the president's address as full of "malice and misinformation."  But they have it completely backwards. 
 
President Trump was elected on the promise to put America first and that is exactly what he is doing.  His remarks last night focused on America -- what the crisis at the border is doing to our country and his obligation as president to defend our borders and our citizens. 
 
In response, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer focused their remarks on attacking Trump and defending the government bureaucrats. 
 
Their opposition to the wall and everything Trump does to secure the border was an open invitation for more migrant caravans, and another caravan, an even bigger one, is already on the way.
 
And on the very day the president was getting ready to address the country about the crisis of illegal immigration, California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that they would provide additional healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants. 
 
There's a perfect example of the magnet -- the liberal welfare state is attracting more and more illegal immigrants.
 
 
 
The Left Embraces Open Borders
 
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) went on MSNBC after the president spoke and publicly reiterated her support for open borders. 
 
She declared that Trump should have been explaining not why we need a wall, but why we should fund the Border Patrol and ICE, which she insisted are routinely violating human rights and even killing immigrants.  She made these outrageous and shameful remarks just hours before National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. 
 
Yet as extreme as her views may be, we are told that Ocasio-Cortez is "the face of the future."  (Here, here and here.)
 
While some conservatives suggest that left-wing opposition to better border security is only about "resisting" Donald Trump, I completely disagree. 
 
Liberal politicians like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer supported commonsense measures in the past because there were fewer illegal immigrants in the country and it was far more politically dangerous to openly embrace radical ideas like open borders. 
 
But after decades of massive immigration, legal and illegal, population trends are changing the dynamics of the debate.  America is being fundamentally transformed with the left's full encouragement.
 
And the growth of low-skill immigrants provides growing pressure to expand the size of government, which must be paid for by higher taxes on American workers.  That is the left's agenda. 
 
Conservatives and libertarians who support smaller government must understand that border security is an essential element to achieving that goal.  Just look at the announcements by Governor Newsom and Mayor de Blasio.
 
 
 
About Those Fact Checks
 
As you know, the media insist that the president lies about everything he says.  Multiple media outlets were fact checking the president's every word, but the fact is their fact check meme is just more fake news.  What this boils down to is just a difference of opinion in many cases or splitting hairs in others. 
 
For example, the Washington Post fact check today suggested that the president was wrong to say there is a crisis at the border.  Yet the same Washington Post reported last week that "Record numbers of migrant families are streaming into the United States, overwhelming border agents." 
 
Does that constitute a crisis?  I think so, and so do many Americans.
 
Perhaps the most absurd fact check of all related the president's statement that one-third of migrant women are assaulted on the way to the U.S. 
 
CBS News insisted that "Between 60 percent and 80 percent of female migrants traveling through Mexico are raped along the way." 
 
In other words, CBS is claiming the president lied and the situation is really even more of a crisis than he says it is.  But there's no crisis, right?
 
That fact check, by the way, has since disappeared.
 
But I do appreciate CBS News correcting one thing:  Trump said last night that he would support a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall "at the request of Democrats." 
 
According to a Pelosi spokesman that is "false."  The Democrat leadership does not support steel barriers either.  Once again proving that the left isn't serious about border security.