■ The president called his remarks before the Capitol riot “totally Appropriate.”

Time for peace, he says; Pence assures governors on transition

ALAMO, Texas — President Donald Trump on Tuesday made his first appearance in public since the U.S. Capitol siege. Trump arrived in Texas to trumpet his campaign against illegal immigration in an attempt to burnish his legacy with eight days remaining in his term.

In Alamo, Texas, a city in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.s.-mexican border — the site of the 450th mile of the border wall his administration is building, Trump brushed off Democratic calls on his Cabinet to declare him unfit for office and remove him from power using the 25th Amendment.

“It’s time for peace and for calm,” Trump said Tuesday, less than a week after egging on the mob that descended on the Capitol. He added, “Respect for law enforcement is the foundation of the MAGA agenda,” referencing his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Trump said the “real problem” was not his rhetoric, but the rhetoric that Democrats used to describe Black Lives Matter protests and violence in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, this summer.

“Everybody to the T thought it was totally appropriate,” Trump said.

Trump lashed out at lawmakers’ push for his second impeachment this week, saying, “It’s causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.”

While Trump was traveling, Vice President Mike Pence assured the nation’s governors that outgoing administration is working “diligently” with President-elect Joe Biden’s team. He thanked the governors for their leadership on the coronavirus and promised them a “seamless transition.”

Trump aides have been urging the president to spend his remaining days in office highlighting what they see as the chief accomplishments of his presidency: a massive tax cut, his efforts to roll back federal regulations, and the transformation of federal courts with the appointment of conservative judges.

In Texas, he delivered remarks highlighting his administration’s efforts to curb illegal immigration and the progress made on his signature 2016 campaign promise: building a “big, beautiful wall” across the length of the southern border.

His administration has overseen the construction of roughly 450 miles of border wall construction — likely to reach 475 miles by Inauguration Day. The vast majority of that wall replaces smaller barriers that had already existed, though the new wall is considerably more difficult to bypass.