In March, congressional Republicans rejected the border bill championed by President Joe Biden. They encouraged Biden to issue an executive order instead.

Democrats accused the congressional GOP of killing the border deal just to make Biden look bad.

Then on Wednesday, Biden an executive order restricting the asylum process… and his former press secretary Jen Psaki praised him for keeping up appearances.

“There needs to be something that’s done, but also, politically, this is one the biggest vulnerabilities,” Psaki said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. regardless of who’s mad about the details of what’s in here and what isn’t in here, it’s a political vulnerability for his president and his campaign.”

In Psaki’s view, Biden is issuing the order for the sake of appearances, not just for alleviating the border crisis. Of course, Psaki has yet to praise the Republicans for keeping up appearances by killing the border bill.

“They know that. They knew they would have to do something like an executive order before the election, as well,” Psaki continued. “That’s what we’re seeing play out.”

Psaki said the quiet part out loud.

Whenever the border sees more than 2,500 crossings every day for seven days, the new order will bar all noncitizens from entering the country to seek asylum. The order went into effect on Wednesday, because the border has long exceeded the mark of 2,500 crossings per day.

It will remain in effect until the border sees fewer than 1,500 crossings every day for 14 days — a rate last reported during the pandemic-stricken summer of 2020.

The order also specifies the definition of an “encounter” at the border. The full text is available online.

Take a look at Psaki’s remarks —