This weekend, while speaking at what has been described as “a progressive forum”, New Jersey (thus my) Governor, Phil Murphy, in an apparent effort to prove how supportive he is of illegal aliens (that’s worthy of a few blogs in and of itself), made this intentionally provocative statement:
“I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. We said ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage, and good luck to the feds trying to come in and get her.’”
What a daring man. What a leader! Needless to say, the crowd was more than appreciative.
Except…
President Trump’ newly appointed Border Czar, Tom Homan, wasn’t applauding. When he caught wind of what Murphy said, Homan’s reaction was:
“I think the governor is pretty foolish saying what he said because I’ve gotten a hold of it. We won’t let it go. We’ll look into it. Then, if he’s knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title 8, United States Code 1324. I will seek prosecution or the secretary will seek prosecution.”
Between that, and a number of Republicans attacking Murphy for the stupidity of his statement, suddenly, Murphy was backing off at about 100 MPG. See, this was all a misunderstanding, that’s all.
From Carl Campanile and David Propper’s article for the New York Post:
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s office furiously tried to backpedal Monday after he boasted that he had opened his home to a migrant and taunted the Trump administration “to try to get her.’’
A rep told The Post that the loose-lipped Jersey leader had been “misinterpreted” and that no such situation had occurred — even though Murphy had dared the feds to come after the migrant.
“No one’s ever lived in the home” under those circumstances that the governor described, the representative insisted.
The rep did not explain why Murphy, who lives with his family in a mansion in Middletown, NJ, would dare the Trump administration to go after the woman at his home if she wasn’t there.
How does this look to you?
To me, it looks like Murphy made his bones to a hard-left group, got all the cheers (great publicity material)…and then, when challenged on his bravado, folded like a cheap lawn chair and now is begging us not to take his comments seriously…
…(which, it should be noted, is exactly what the Associated Press account of this incident does. It presents Murphy’s side as if it were unequivocally true, no suggestion that he was dishonest or misleading in any way. The AP is no longer a serious source of news.)
Simply stated, Phil Murphy acted like a jerk. If New Jersey was a competitive state he’d be apologizing for it right now and hoping it won’t hurt his political future.
But New Jersey isn’t a competitive state. So no problem, Phil.
