Althouse: "You have to have a federal government that can enforce laws."

January 9, 2026

"You have to have a federal government that can enforce laws."

Resurfaced video of Joe Biden being asked about sanctuary citiespic.twitter.com/e2SrFohLJD
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) January 8, 2026

28 comments:

Justabill said...: That was then (and, all other issues aside, impressively articulate, given his later public decline). Further, they aren’t ignoring the law, they’re actively opposing it.; 1/9/26, 6:02 AM
doctrev said...: Whaaaaat? You mean the judicial system has a vested interest in maintaining federal authority? It won't matter, because President Trump is totally backing ICE, and the idiot brigade is successfully motivating glorified immigration officers into becoming President Trump's personal agency. Absolutely unreal.; 1/9/26, 6:02 AM
rehajm said...: We should all know they’re full of shit today. Unfortunately there’s still too many what want to pretend they aren’t…; 1/9/26, 6:06 AM
Political Junkie said...: Good Ole Joe. Hard to believe current D's are crazier than he was.; 1/9/26, 6:11 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: The Overton Window is a curious thing. It shifts so silently that people who now believe they're "on the right side of history" forget they formerly voted for people like Biden, Obama, and the Clinton's that are to the right of Donald Trump.

Right side of history...lol.; 1/9/26, 6:11 AM
tim maguire said...: Remarkable how sensible most politicians are capable of being when the political calculation favors sensibility.; 1/9/26, 6:11 AM
Christopher B said...: My working theory is that, just like all the leftists and RINOs that comment here, they don't actually believe a word they say or write. It is all a performance designed to maintain connection with the tribe, confuse the gullible, and frustrate their opponents. It's how you can go from "if you disobey an order to stop it's ok for a cop to shoot you" to "you should be able to assault a cop and suffer no consequences" in less than 24 hours.; 1/9/26, 6:13 AM
Breezy said...: Ah, the good ol’ days when most of our politicians put Americans first.; 1/9/26, 6:14 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: That clip is amazing. A lucid pre-cauliflower Biden. Time and age are no respecters of dignity.; 1/9/26, 6:16 AM
Money Manger said...: What happened in Minneapolis, especially with the multiple videos we all can see, is an almost perfect Rashomon, or Rorschach. We all look at the same evidence, but bring in our prior biases to form our interpretations. For every one of us those interpretations were pre-determined.

Or perhaps it is the opening scene in Episode 1 of a streaming-series that will flip you back and forth in your conviction with more reveals in ensuing episodes.

But right now the national consensus, helped by the networks and the broadsheet dailies, is gelling around the view that Good (couldn't her last name have been, say, "Weevil" ?) was unjustifiably killed.; 1/9/26, 6:28 AM
Leland said...: Even back then he was FOS. The cities were not implementing sanctuary status because there wasn't funding to enforce the law. That makes no logical sense. He was just arguing for more money for the federal government that he could slush fund to something else, probably private day care.; 1/9/26, 6:34 AM
Howard said...: So Ms. Good's murder was pre-approved by Joebiden decades ago. That must make you people feel big and strong like bull.; 1/9/26, 7:02 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: That was when Joe's head and brains functioned--kinda. Tapioca hadn't arrived.; 1/9/26, 7:04 AM
Joe Bar said...: I think it was Friedman who said something along the lines of "Politicians will behave in the manner that the public rewards them." It is clear our reward structure for democrat politicians is lacking.; 1/9/26, 7:05 AM
MartyH said...: Sanctuary policies are an attempt to shield illegal aliens from Federal jurisdiction. Consequently, the children of illegals in these communities are not eligible for birthright citizenship. As long as there is a city or state not cooperating with ICE, birthright citizenship for illegals should be denied.; 1/9/26, 7:30 AM
Chest Rockwell said...: Institutions decline just like people do.

I read today that some shlub at the New Republic was saying that if a Democrat is elected president in 2028, one of the first items should be sending Donald Trump to Venezuela to be tried for crimes. Sounds ridiculous but my bet is they'll try it.; 1/9/26, 7:34 AM
Iman said...: “… and then Corn Pop pulled out his rusty razor and I grabbed my apology chain and we went at it.. “; 1/9/26, 7:48 AM
Achilles said...: Howard said...

So Ms. Good's murder was pre-approved by Joebiden decades ago. That must make you people feel big and strong like bull.

Ms. Good was a traitor who allied with foreigners to attack our country, steal money from its citizens, and give it to those same foreigners she attacked our law enforcement with.

When she physically attacked a law enforcement officer she became a combatant.

Surely you aren't being over emotional about this just because she is a girl.; 1/9/26, 7:56 AM
Peachy said...: Ms. Good was harassing and blocking federal agents- and she was trained by radical leftist groups. ( groups probably funded with dark money); 1/9/26, 8:24 AM
Peachy said...: Why, indeed.; 1/9/26, 8:26 AM
Peachy said...: Ms. Good was being used by the a-holes and F-heads who are are all power-whore money-whore thieves on top of the corrupt Democrat food chain in MN.; 1/9/26, 8:27 AM
Jamie said...: My working theory is that, just like all the leftists and RINOs that comment here, they don't actually believe a word they say or write. It is all a performance designed to maintain connection with the tribe, confuse the gullible, and frustrate their opponents. It's how you can go from "if you disobey an order to stop it's ok for a cop to shoot you" to "you should be able to assault a cop and suffer no consequences" in less than 24 hours.

For me, it's worth remembering that the shift in (and narrowing of, until Trump) the Overton window affects my side too: I now support some positions I wouldn't have supported in the past. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I believe that my own shifts reflect my observations about what has been tried and shown to work (at least more or less): for instance, given the choice between gay marriage and Trans For All, I'm strongly pro-gay marriage and happy that gay is so mainstream that nobody mentions Scott Bessent's sexuality, much less Richard Grennell's. (Yes, I know if they were Democrats that non-sequitur would magically become the first bullet point on their resumes. But at least on my side we don't care. This is the kind of thing MLK assured us was possible.)

In other words - I don't consider it incongruous that conservatism now (more or less) embraces Trump, a moderate who was a Democrat not that long ago. I consider it a sign that we can look around at reality and make those changes in our platform that appear to be working (more or less) in the wild.; 1/9/26, 8:58 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Jamie, with all due respect there are quite a few light years between "not mentioning" and "strongly supporting".; 1/9/26, 10:14 AM
john mosby said...: Jamie: “ nobody mentions Scott Bessent's sexuality, much less Richard Grennell's.…. on my side we don't care.”

I do. I am deliriously happy that we have two bitchy, shady tops in charge of those two important agencies. That’s exactly who you need to mercilessly clean house. Watching Bessent take down the entire Morning Joe panel was one of the highlights of my life. Sometimes diversity hiring works! CC, JSM; 1/9/26, 11:50 AM
Leland said...: quite a few light years between "not mentioning" and "strongly supporting".

I think this was the idea with "don't ask, don't tell". As long as sexually wasn't the important topic in the workplace, then no problem. But, strong support was demanded and recognition of marriage. However, some of us on the marriage side would have preferred the civil union concept, not to downgrade gay marriage, but to get government out of marriage. Marriage was a religious institution, and now it is almost entirely secular with people choosing not to get married because of the government cost of separating and those getting married happy to divorce, because separation is not spiritual.

Alas, I think I understand Jamie; can't we be happy with what we had even 10 years ago? Gay marriage legal. Democrats that at least claimed to want to protect our border and enforce the laws related to it. Democrats that thought obeying the law and law enforcement was a good thing. It appears the answer is "no".

I don't buy that it is because of Trump.; 1/9/26, 11:55 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Whether it's Tony Dokoupil's dad selling hundreds of tons of pot or Marco Rubio's brother-in-law smuggling cocaine inside of boa constrictors, there's plenty of drug dealing going on in the families of MAGA movement members.; 1/9/26, 12:34 PM
Kirk Parker said...: > get government out of marriage

That's just as misguided as Jamie's strong support. Our current degraded state of family life begin with sentiments like these.; 1/9/26, 2:08 PM
Achilles said...: Kakistocracy said...

Whether it's Tony Dokoupil's dad selling hundreds of tons of pot or Marco Rubio's brother-in-law smuggling cocaine inside of boa constrictors, there's plenty of drug dealing going on in the families of MAGA movement members.

Be sure to talk about anything other than democrats and Somalis working together to steal money from taxpayers and to commit voter fraud.; 1/9/26, 2:52 PM

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