Last night, President Donald Trump hopefully set the stage for taking measures to protect America’s borders that are long overdue. Though his brief address sometimes lapsed into the sentimental bromides realistic patriots have long grown weary of, Trump, in the end, told us what this struggle is all about. After correctly diagnosing the border crisis as one “of the heart and . . . of the soul,” the president said, “This is choice between right and wrong, justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve. When I took the oath of office, I swore to protect our country. And that is what I will always do, so help me God.” Americans have a right and a duty to protect our homeland. We have a right and a duty to decide who gets to enter our country and who doesn’t. 

There are a number of nits attentive patriots could pick in analyzing the speech ($5.7 billion for a border wall isn’t enough, for starters, and mentioning Israel’s very effective border barriers, which no one in either party would dare object to, would have been nice), but Trump and his speechwriter, probably the indispensable Stephen Miller, were likely on target politically in emphasizing “humanitarian” concerns, and in pointing out that Beltway elites, the same smug Brahmins who disdain Middle America and oppose practically any immigration controls or border security measures whatsoever, themselves live behind protective barriers. Trump’s address has set down a marker, forcing opponents of a border wall and other security measures Trump alluded to, to tell the public why defending our own borders is “immoral.” Trump noted that wall builders don’t necessarily “hate the people on the outside,” they build walls “because they love the people on the inside,” and the only “immoral” thing in this political battle is a refusal to act.

Time is not on Trump’s, or on our, side. Our enemies have no reason to yield. Open borders serve their political interest in importing a new people to replace us, a process that is ongoing. The cheap labor lobby wants to continue to drive down American wages. All either wing of the open borders cabal have to do is stall and wait for the demographic deluge (along with their usual creative electoral practices) to make it impossible for any Trump-like successor, or even Trump himself, to ever be elected again. 

In his address, Trump said he had invited congressional leaders to a meeting today in order “to get this done.” We won’t have long to wait to see what comes of that meeting, if one takes place at all, but Trump’s address, his appeals to patriotism, and his call for a meeting have set the stage for the president to do what will in all likelihood be necessary: declare a national emergency and use the military to build the wall.