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Felicia Sonmez
National reporter on the Washington Post political news team
President Trump launched a powerful appeal Tuesday night and televised to the nation for the nation. ruthless border, declaring "a growing humanitarian and security crisis" on the southern border and blaming the congressional Democrats for the partial closure of the government that he helped create three weeks ago.
Trump painted a heartbreaking picture of danger and death along the United States. -The Mexican border, describing undocumented immigrants as murderers, rapists and drug traffickers, arguing that a steel fence – for which he asks Congress to allocate $ 5.7 billion – is the only solution.
"This is a humanitarian crisis – the heart and a crisis of the soul," said Trump in his nine-minute speech delivered by the Oval Office. "Congressional Democrats have refused to acknowledge the crisis and have not provided our brave border agents with the tools they desperately need to protect our families and our country."
Democratic leaders, who firmly resisted Trump's request for the wall. the funding in part because they feel that such an obstacle is immoral and unnecessary, accused Trump of having terror in his speech Tuesday night. They called for an immediate end to the government's closure, which would have upset the salaries of 800,000 federal employees and deprive millions of US citizens of essential services.
"Unfortunately, President Trump has talked a lot about this foolish day. The closure was full of misinformation and even malice, "said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She added, "The fact is that President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop creating a crisis and reopen the government."
Trump used his first prime-time televised address to the country from the Oval Office to convey the urgency of the situation at the border, which he plans to visit on Thursday. He questions the desirability of declaring a national emergency at the border, which would activate the executive authorities and give him the power to reprogram funds from the Ministry of Defense to build a party. from his wall without congressional approval.
Tuesday night, President Trump described illegal immigration as "humanitarian crisis – heart attack and soul crisis", pleading for the financing of the border wall to end the closure partial government. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
But the remarks written by Trump contained little novelty. And although he promised to continue negotiating with the Democrats to end the budget stalemate, he did not detail the new offers in his speech. He suggested that building the steel wall rather than concrete was a concession made to Democrats.
Reading on a teleprompter, Trump was relatively calm, repeating the previous talking points and telling familiar anecdotes, leaving aside the rhetorical pomp that he displayed on the screen.
Immigration was the central theme of Trump's political life – and in many ways his speech at the Oval Office was a glued version of the speech he had delivered at Trump Tower for three years and half. there is to launch his campaign. At the time, the candidate, Trump, said about Mexican immigrants who were illegally there: "They bring drugs. They bring the crime. They are rapists.
In his Tuesday night speech, Trump spoke passionately about the alleged crimes committed by undocumented immigrants – a person raped and beaten to death with a hammer in California, another beheaded and dismembered in Georgia, and another stabbed and beaten in Maryland.
"I met dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigration," Trump said. "I held the hands of the crying mothers and kissed the sorrowful fathers. So sad. So terrible. I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the trembling in their voices and the sadness that impresses their souls. "
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.), who, along with Pelosi, jointly introduced his party official on television" Most presidents used office addresses ovals for noble purposes, "he said." This president has just used the oval office to create a crisis, stir up fear and divert attention from the turmoil that reigns in his administration. "
Trump's credibility has been assailed in recent days.The 45th President has a well-established track record of thousands of sincere exaggerations, falsehoods and lies, and by claiming a border wall in recent days, he and his administration officials used misleading data and, in some cases, false data.] Notably, in his Oval Office speech, Trump did not mention the terrorists invading the border, which is a key argument – and in large fictitious – advanced by his administration to support a wall.
Trump made several other statements. which are obviously wrong. He added that the wall will be "indirectly paid for by the new trade agreement we have with Mexico." But this agreement, a redesign of the North American Free Trade Agreement, has not yet been ratified by Congress – and even if it actually would not "save" In the United States, as smaller trade deficits do not necessarily translate into increased federal government revenues. In addition, no provision provides money for a wall.
Trump also said a wall would help stem the flow of illicit drugs into the country, noting that 90 percent of heroin sold in the United States passes through the southern border. Yet almost all of this is trafficked across legal borders; a wall would have little impact.
While Trump claimed that the border situation was a "crisis", the number of people apprehended by border patrol boats on the US-Mexico line actually peaked in 2000 and has since declined. . According to the US Customs and Border Protection Administration, there were 396,579 arrests in fiscal year 2018, less than half of the total for 2007.
Your Trump Checklist to Check Trump's Immigration Address]
Trump for the first time used one of the few platforms of the presidency: a speech written as a bonus to the nation pronounced by the Oval Office. But while his predecessors generally used such opportunities for unifying purposes, including declaring war and announcing peace, Trump used it to try to gain political advantage in his confrontation with Congress over the financing of border barriers.
Trump wanted to convince the public. that the situation at the border was a real crisis and that the construction of a physical barrier was the only sensible way to solve the problems caused by illegal immigration, said Mr Assist.
This effort may come at the most perilous moment of his presidency. Trump uses his political capital to fulfill his campaign promise: a wall, but his Republican coalition is cracking against a unified and emboldened democratic opposition that refuses to give up its argument that a wall would be ineffective, useless and morally unjust.
The political context has pushed Trump to do everything possible. The President intends to go to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a rare visit to Captain Hill at the Republican Senators' weekly political lunch.
The negotiations will then resume at the White House, where the eight leaders of the Congress are expected to meet later. Afternoon to meet the President and resume talks on the end of the closure, according to several people close to the invitation.
Trump summoned all Americans to call their congressmen and urge them to support his border security program.
"It's a choice between good and evil, justice and injustice," Trump said in his speech. "It's about whether we are fulfilling our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve."
On Thursday, Trump plans to fly to Texas to personally visit the southern border and highlight what he calls a crisis in this country.
These measures could allow Trump to declare the national emergency as a way of attempting to build a wall without congressional approval.
"The President made it clear that he was planning to do it," said Kellyanne Conway, adviser to the president. . "He has the right to do it. He said his legal adviser was reviewing it. But that would also allow Congress to get out of the deal. And they were escaped too long.
It would be a risky gamble, provoking not only a brutal reaction among congressional Democrats and perhaps some Republicans, but also prompting immediate challenges in federal courts.
Trump has been a consultant in recent days with friends and outside advisers, including conservative allies such as Mark Meadows (RN.C.) and Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity.
The president became convinced that because of the symbolic power of the wall for his It must be perceived as a firm bias that uses all the tools of his arsenal to ensure its construction.
One possibility is that Trump negotiates with the Democrats for the next few days, then declares a national emergency to end the closure, according to someone with direct knowledge of the president's thinking.
Meanwhile, federal agencies continue to struggle with the effects of closure and pressure to reopen the government The US Chamber of Commerce sent a letter Tuesday to lawmakers urging Congress and the Trump government to reopen the government , supporting an agreement that would combine border security measures and "Dreamers" border protection measures brought here illegally into the child and into the temporary protection program.
"This closure harms the American people, the business world, and the economy," Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the group.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, which represents most of the 800,000 affected federal workers as well as thousands of fired contractors, said Tuesday that its members want the closure to end but do not want to see Democrats bowing to Trump's claims on the wall.
"They want the government to be open, and they want to get back to work, but they think that the p The resident is responsible because he gave up an agreement concluded that suited everyone and that It should not have been concluded, "said Trumka in an interview.
In the run-up to Trump's speech, senior officials of his administration sought to create an atmosphere of seriousness and a common goal. the suggestion that Trump played the border situation for partisan purposes, even going so far as to say that "base" was one of his least favorite words.
Not a "base," Pence told reporters on Monday, "It's about the American people, it's human trafficking, it's a humanitarian crisis." the flow of illicit drugs, illegal immigration and the determination of the President to deal with this problem with action and resources.
But the other messages from the president himself were undeniably political. The Trump campaign on Tuesday afternoon launched an urgent appeal to supporters on behalf of the president, hoping to raise $ 500,000 in a single day, which would coincide with the evening's speech.
"I want to do something so huge, even Democrats and The false news can not be ignored," Trump writes in the email solicitation.
Josh Dawsey, Mike DeBonis, John Wagner, Seung Min Kim, Erica Werner, Glenn Kessler, Meg Kelly, and Salvador Rizzo contributed to this article.
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