TRUMP PAINTS Biden victory in apocalyptic terms.
YUMA, Ariz. — As Democrats hold their national convention, President Donald Trump reached back Tuesday to the signature issue of his 2016 campaign to deliver a broadside against Democratic rival Joe Biden over immigration.
In Arizona, one of the top 2020 battleground states, the president sought to paint a Biden victory in apocalyptic terms, insisting that “the survival of our nation is at stake” in November and slamming what he labeled the “insane and lethal policies” of his opposition.
“Biden’s plan is the most radical, extreme, reckless, dangerous and deadly immigration plan ever put forward by a major party candidate,” he said. “It must be defeated, and it will be defeated on Nov. 3.”
Biden’s views on immigration are more centrist than many others in his party. Biden, for instance, does not support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he argues that crossing the U.S. border illegally should be criminally prosecuted rather than made a civil offense, as many other top Democratic presidential hopefuls had proposed.
With his second campaign trip in two days, Trump was working to halt an expected convention polling bump for his rival and shore up support with his focus on immigration.
In recent weeks, Trump has been trying to build support within the pivotal female voter constituency and has stepped up his events aimed at women. His campaign has launched another “women for Trump” bus tour, and the president has embraced a “law and order” message with renewed vigor.
The president made a stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a briefing about damage from the derecho last week that has left thousands of people without power and caused catastrophic damage across the battleground state. Many there have expressed anger that their plight has not received more national attention.
The storm, which packed 100 mph winds and similar power to an inland hurricane, blew down trees, flipped vehicles and caused widespread damage to crops and silos full of grain.
“We’ve come through for you, and we will always come through for Iowa,” Trump said, as the city’s mayor urged him to consider enhanced federal disaster funding for people there.
Trump highlighted his immigration agenda during his stop in Yuma, Ariz., and got an update on construction of his southern border wall. The president, in addition to saying that he was fulfilling his pledge to build the wall, insisted that Mexico was paying for it — even though it’s not.
“They are paying for it,” he said as he stood in front of a replica of the wall, telling reporters that he’s planning to enact a border crossing toll at some point in the future.
“Mexico will be paying,” he said. “We’re figuring how much we have to charge.”
Before leaving Washington, Trump held a White House event to announce the pardon of Susan B. Anthony, convicted of voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to cast ballots. But he quickly pivoted to the upcoming election and the issue of voting by mail.
“Win, lose or draw, we have to get it right,” Trump said of the November vote count, leveling a fresh offensive against mail-in voting.
“You can’t have millions and millions of ballots sent all over the place, sent to people that are dead, sent to dogs, cats, sent everywhere,” Trump said.
Only nine states have plans for “universal” mail-in voting, in which ballots are sent automatically to registered voters. Five of those states relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person.
Trump’s pardon announcement came on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which ensured women the right to vote. The amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Congress approved it in 1919, and the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.
Anthony was arrested for voting in Rochester, N.Y., and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, authorities declined to take further action.
“She felt the trial was the greatest miscarriage of justice because she had not had an opportunity to have a jury of her peers, and the jury didn’t get to vote,” according to Deborah Hughes, president and CEO of The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester, where Anthony died in 1906.
“So to pardon her is to validate the trial, and she would not buy that idea at all,” Hughes said.
Preparations for Trump’s Republican nomination acceptance speech next week were underway at the White House, where a stage was being erected on the South Lawn.
As was the case Monday in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Trump did not venture beyond the airports in Iowa or Arizona — a reflection of the new realities of campaigning in the midst of a pandemic. But Trump’s Yuma rally felt much like his rallies of old, with a crowd of hundreds of people shouting and cheering — though many were wearing “Trump” and “MAGA” masks.