Suffragist Anthony receives pardon
Trump action comes on amendment anniversary
YUMA, Ariz. — Grappling for the spotlight as Democrats hold their national convention, President Donald Trump targeted voters in a pair of key swing states Tuesday and pardoned Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement.
Trump flew to Arizona, one of the top 2020 battleground states, to press his case against his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, painting him as radically left on immigration.
Trump insisted that “the survival of our nation is at stake” in November as he slammed what he labeled the “insane and lethal policies” of his opposition.
“The Biden plan would unleash a flood of illegal immigration like the world has never seen,” he told the crowd in a Yuma airplane hangar, where most audience members wore masks. “It’s crazy.”
The president worked in a last-minute stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a briefing about damage from the derecho last week that has left thousands without power and caused catastrophic damage across the battleground state.
The storm, which packed 100 mph winds and power similar to that of a hurricane, swept across the Midwest last week, blowing down trees, flipping vehicles and causing widespread damage.
“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 aimed to highlight his immigration agenda in Yuma, Arizona, and receive an update on construction of his southern border wall, making his second trip to the city in two months. It was an effort to highlight his work to deliver on a key 2016 campaign pledge.
“MS-13 is on the run, many of its leaders are behind bars, and we are deporting its members in record numbers,” Trump said. “But if Biden wins, it will be giant jailbreak for MS-13 and vicious criminal gangs. My administration is the only thing standing between the American people and these deadly criminals.”
Before leaving Washington, Trump held a White House event to announce the pardon of Anthony, convicted of voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote.
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 passed it in 1919, and the amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.