The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Trump makes his case for wall
President urges funding for barrier on U.S.-Mexico border
In a somber televised plea, President Donald Trump urged congressional Democrats to fund his longpromised border wall Tuesday night, blaming illegal immigration for the scourge of drugs and violence in the U.S. and framing the debate over the partial government shutdown in stark terms. “This is a choice between right and wrong,” he declared.
Democrats in response accused Trump appealing to “fear, not facts” and manufacturing a border crisis for political gain.
Addressing the nation from the Oval Office for the first time, Trump argued for spending some $5.7 billion for a border wall on both security and humanitarian grounds as he sought to put pressure on newly empowered Democrats amid the extended shutdown.
Trump, who will visit the Mexican border in person on Thursday, invited the Democrats to return to the White House to meet with him on Wednesday, saying it was “immoral” for “politicians to do nothing.”
Previous meetings have led to no agreement as Trump insists on the wall that was his signature promise in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Responding in their own televised remarks, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of misrepresenting the situation on the border as they urged him to reopen closed government departments and turn loose paychecks for hundreds of thousands of workers.
Negotiations on wall funding could proceed in the meantime, they said.
Schumer said Trump “just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”
Connecticut Democrats, in statements, were quick to echo Schumer in ripping Trump.
“We are now in the third week of the Trump shutdown and nothing the president said tonight gets us any closer to a solution,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said. “The Senate unanimously passed legislation before the holidays that would have funded the government through February to give us time to reach a long-term agreement, but right after it passed President Trump revoked his prior support because he didn’t get the money for his stupid wall. My constituents back home in Connecticut shouldn’t have to wonder when they’re going to get their next paycheck or when they’re going back to work because the president isn’t getting his wall that no one on the border wants anyway. President Trump and Senate Republicans need to end this shutdown and open the government today.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said, “Tonight, President Trump doubled down on heated rhetoric and lies regarding his manufactured crisis at the border. Instead of governing responsibly, he has taken our government hostage in order to make good on an empty campaign slogan. That is unacceptable.”
“The real crises here are of Donald Trump’s own making: dedicated public servants missing paychecks; taxpayers denied critical government services; economic hardship for small businesses and low income Americans,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. said. “Far from forcing this issue to protect the American people, he is seeking to protect his own ego and pander to his base.”
Overall, Trump largely restated his case for the wall without offering concessions or new ideas on how to resolve the standoff that has kept large swaths of the government closed for the past 18 days. Speaking in solemn tones from behind the Resolute Desk, he painted a dire picture of killings and drug deaths he argues come from unchecked illegal immigration.
Shifting between empathetic appeals and the dark immigration rhetoric that was a trademark of his presidential campaign, Trump asked: “How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?”
The partial government shutdown reached its 18th day, making the closure the second-longest in history.