On Saturday Governor Tom Wolf and U.S. Senator Bob Casey joined hundreds of protesters at Philadelphia International Airport. They spoke out against President Donald Trump’s Executive Order blocking immigrants from 7 countries, which they characterized as illegal and a de facto ban on Muslims.
Casey left a white-tie reception of the Philadelphia Academy of Music Ball and spent a large part of the night actively participating in the Twitter debate as well as being there in person.
Today's chaos didn't have to happen- @realDonaldTrump made it happen through his reckless executive order.
— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) January 29, 2017
The protest mirrored others across the country. It was organized around two families of Syrian refugee families who had arrived in Philadelphia after 15 years of efforts. According to reports, the families were told when they arrived they could either be detained and lose their visas revoked, or get on the first flight back to Doha, Qatar.
Wolf and Casey are the two highest ranking Democratic officials in Pennsylvania, and two of the highest profile incumbents in the country in 2018. The speed with which they took to the protests portends a campaign based on opposition to Trump, who won PA in 2016.
On his way to the protest, Wolf tweeted that the refugees were welcome in Pennsylvania. “He did not think this through,” Wolf said of Trump’s order. He later released a video on the subject:
Philadelphia Congressmen Bob Brady and Dwight Evans and Mayor Jim Kenney also joined the protests.
Some Pennsylvania Republicans, while not showing up at the protests, spoke out against the order.
Representative Charlie Dent (Lehigh) and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) spoke out against the order.
Dent urged a “more thoughtful and deliberate policy.”
“While we certainly need to enhance our current vetting process and significantly reform our immigration policies to make sure terrorists are not exploiting our nation’s proud tradition of freedom and acceptance, the President’s policy entirely misses the mark,” Fitzpatrick said in statement released early Sunday morning.
Other PA Republicans backed President Trump including Representatives Lou Barletta (R-Luzerne) and Scott Perry (R-York).
“I commend President Trump for suspending the refugee program, and in particular for Syria and the six other countries, because they are unquestionably terrorist havens and hotspots,” Barletta said in a statement.
“The American people demand action on this issue and Washington has failed for too long. The President’s actions today are a good first step,” Perry said.
“I support the administration’s decision to increase vetting and temporarily suspend the admission of certain individuals from states that sponsor or provide safe havens to terrorists, or are too weak to prosecute terrorists within their borders,” U.S. Senator Pat Toomey said this morning in a released statement.
“Unfortunately, the initial executive order was flawed – it was too broad and poorly explained,” Toomey continued.
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20 Responses
Almost all of the things you point out happens to be astonishingly accurate and it makes me ponder the reason why I had not looked at this in this light before. This particular article truly did turn the light on for me personally as far as this particular subject goes. Nevertheless there is just one position I am not really too comfy with and whilst I make an effort to reconcile that with the core theme of the issue, let me see exactly what all the rest of the readers have to say.Nicely done.
http://rakeworld.com/index.php?do=/blog/36140/a-couple-of-fabulous-methods-on-pest-control-prices/
Good grief, John! Please rest assured I neither listen to nor place much faith in Hannity and his ilk. In fact, I don’t watch TV. It’s bad for one’s soundness of judgement and a threat to one’s mental health in general.
@ Seneca: “Troops” “support” “logistics” Grandpa, this ain’t some WW2 troop movement, and I’m not about to explain the 2017 social media environment to you.
It’s January 2017 and the grassroots of the Democratic party are putting bodies in the streets multiple times per week. It’s not going to stop and whether you can believe your lyin’ eyes or not is simply irrelevant. Sean Hannity is going to go on TV and tell you that these are paid agitators, and you’ll believe him because you find it simply baffling that citizens can SOMEHOW organize a rally and MIRACULOUSLY transport themselves to said rally. My god, the logistics!
John, Facebook might have worked for some local demonstrations, but we don’t all live in Philly. And you don’t get many troops on short notice unless you’ve done some advance work. Social media can only do so much, no matter how much it’s made out to have some degree of spontaneity. And sometimes it does pretty well.
Interesting remarks though on your view of how things might have happened in Philadelphia, especially if you were involved. But regarding demos in other parts of the state far removed from there, with likely different logistics and other support issues, I wonder whether things happened differently.
You want to know who “organized and financed” the protestors? Seneca, I think it may be time to log off your computer and get some real life experience. Your online Karl Rove persona would be infinitely more effective.
I’m about to give you the secret of the Enigma machine, get ready… Here’s how you finance/organize a spontaneous demonstration. Step 1: Create a Facebook group telling everyone what you want to do, when, and where. Step 2: Pay $2.25 for a 30 minute train ride to the airport for the designated protest.
Woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh can you believe this level of strategic planning? Surely, such intricate coordination could only have been pulled off with paid agitators biding their time… waiting for orders from above. But who could have possibly paid for all of these signs, and train fares, and coffees?! Don’t look in the shadows… it’s George Soros!
Interesting you raised the subject of the “spontaneous” demonstrations. I’ll reserve my judgement on just how “spontaneous” they were pending more information as to who organized and financed them. It’s hard for them to avoid the impression they were ready and waiting. And they were quite successful at getting the publicity they wanted.
As for Wolf’s and Casey’s comments, less, not more, rhetoric is always the best option, regardless of the occasion. Never help write your future opponents’ playbooks for them. they’ll have enough to worry about as 2018 approaches.
Seneca, so what you’re saying is that Wolf and Casey should be showing up to spontaneous protests being formed by the Dems grassroots? Sounds like you’re starting to catch up to the rest of us. Where would we be without the Hottest Takes from the Karl Rove of Bath Salts, PA?
No, John, I don’t drink anyone’s Kool-Aid. I have no ties or interests with any party and have been an independent going on five decades. For me, as for many Pennsylvanians I know, Trump was the least of the evils in the candidate field. He is still unlikely to be the great panacea to the extent many of his supporters make him out to be. But regarding his critics, it’s only been a week or so and they’ve already pushed anti-Trump rhetoric to its credible limits.
Regarding the political parties and their problems, I call them like I see them, and with the Democrats Soros and his money cannot be ignored as a critical factor in the current party leadership and priorities. If Democrats want to recover from the setbacks voters gave them this past election, they need to repair their connections with the electorate, and listen to them and a lot less to Soros and his minions. That will help them considerably.
@JC I’m sure the guy calling random strangers scumbags on an internet comment section is really a contributing member of society.
The dirty liberal Dems are at it again. We don’t need this scum from other countries overrunning are country. Keep them OUT!!!
Trump was 100% right .
Casey and Wolf never served therefore they dont understand a dam thing about terrorist Casey you have been invisible from day one, you are nothing short of a stooge for Crockadile Tears Shumur! you lefties cry over loosing Penna. well your do nothing former President Obama is the reason, along with a bad Candidate in Mrs. Clinton. The past eight years have been a violation of the law with regards to Obama’s immigration policies, he has weakened the Republic! Trump maybe brash, but he will strengthen our borders which translates into a strong Nation. Get use to this, he has a least four years too make you and Crockadile Tears Shummer cry!
Seneca, you tipped your hand a bit much with the “Soros-funded demonstrators” line. You’re like a dopier version of Karl Rove if he was snorting bath salts while reading the Wikipedia page for ‘Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.’
I think you forgot to take note of the thousands of Democratic voters (pro-bono, I assure you) rallying on a random ass weekend in January 2017. Considering you’re a MAGA-dude it strikes me as contradictory that you’re so ready to assume that the political system is going to keep on as per usual. 2018 is going to be different and anyone that gives a prediction with the assumption that Democrats will be a static force are fools (like Seneca).
What a strategic blunder for two poliiticans who will likely be in Trump & Co’s crosshairs come 2018. Wolf and Casey’s words and actions will come back to haunt them.
It would have been better for them to have toned their rhetoric down a bit, and kept some distance from Mayor Kenney. The current round of lawsuits against Trump’s EO will ultimately fail, regardless of any quasi-vehemence by Soros-funded demonstrators. Unfortunately for them, they are up against settled federal immigration law.
The Trump EO authority is based, at least in large part, on the Immigration and Nationality Act of 27 June 1952 (Public Law 414), aka the McCarran–Walter Act, enacted under President Truman . Per Section 212(e), “Suspension of entry by President”:
“Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of
any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the
interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such
period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or
any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the
entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”
There is also other federal law, but this alone seems sufficient for Trump’s purposes.
Toomey has no direction; he blows with the wind. Note how he took both sides of the issue in his communique. First, supporting Trump; then, questiong how it was done and claiming it was flawed.
“Flawed” he says, but let’s support it anyhow. Typical Toomey. Spineless Coward.
Perry is still looking for the South Pole, so he can determine his direction.
Barletta wants Trump to add another country, Hispanica, to the list to be banned.
I saw Kathy Kane there too
Caseys is a list cause, thank God he’ll be out of a job in 2 years.
Protect America, keep potential risks out of the country.
Who is this “Bob Casey” of which you speak?
Good article Paul, I would like to see you drawing a clearer contrast between Casey who left a fundraiser to help protect Pennsylvanians, while Pat was too busy in California meeting his real bosses (the Koch Brothers) to even release a statement for days.