Commentary
Commentary
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is interviewed by David Rubenstein alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore at the Economic Club on Feb. 18, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Heather Diehl / Getty Images)

Oklahoma's RINO Governor Tells NPR That Democrats Are NOT Trying to Replace the Electorate with Immigrants

 By C. Douglas Golden  February 27, 2026 at 6:39am

Sure, the Democrats say they’re trying to make the multitudes of illegal immigrants in the United States legal. But who are you going to believe: A RINO Republican or your lying ears?

This is, quite stunningly, a question — even after the Democrats doubled down on the “path to citizenship” after the president’s State of the Union address. The line comes from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who was interviewed by NPR (seldom a good sign) and has also been in a pitched battle with President Donald Trump.

In the interview, conducted “on the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C.,” the governor of one of America’s reddest states told the official network of the soporific left how America could “get back to integrity.”

Among those ways is trusting the Democrats to handle immigration correctly in the same way that Charlie Brown kept on trusting Lucy van Pelt to hold the football for him.

“Even my Democrat governor colleagues, they’re not trying to get illegals here to turn them into voters. I don’t believe that’s what Democrat politicians are trying to do,” Stitt said.

“And just like Republicans get a bad rap that people think Republicans don’t like immigrants — that’s not true,” he added.

“There’s some common ground that if we sit down together, we can figure this out,” he added.

This is only slightly true if you believe that Democratic governors are any different from their Democratic congressional brethren. They’ve shown no evidence that there’s any difference — and arguably, Democrat governors are worse.

But to the extent that they belong to the same party that Sen. Chuck Schumer leads in the Senate, either Stitt wasn’t watching Schumer this week, or he wasn’t watching Schumer appearing on MS NOW after the State of the Union:

Or he hasn’t been paying attention to what Schumer has been saying, well, any time recently:

Or other Democrats, for that matter:

But sure, Stitt can trust Democrat governors. And I’m Ross Perot.

It’s worth noting that Stitt has an agenda here. He’s term-limited and positioning himself as Not That Kind of Republican™ for his post-gubernatorial life. As NPR noted, Stitt “has made his disagreements [with Trump] clear, though he has avoided personal attacks and isn’t a member of the never-Trump movement.”

Among them? Surprise, surprise: “Stitt advocates issuing work visas to people without legal status who are currently employed.” How about that.

This is somebody who’s way outside of the conservative mainstream. It’s no wonder that he’s on NPR blabbing about his priorities. It’d be great to tune the guy out, but there’s an important reason to listen to him: He’s a Democrat-enabler.

We know where the Democrats stand, especially on the border: They want to pretend it doesn’t exist when they’re in charge. Kevin Stitt launders this view through the lens of false bipartisanship. And NPR, of course, is more than willing to talk to him — as long as he’s not speaking about actual conservative priorities.

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