Trump in prime time faces a crisis of credibility

The historically resonant staging represents an attempt to convince the country – with few hard evidence – that a real threat is growing at the border between the United States and Mexico, including drug trafficking, the increase of disease among migrants, the increase in the number of border crossings and the destruction of asylum

"We sincerely believe that we have a crisis at our southern border", has said Vice President Mike Pence at a briefing at the White House on Monday.

"I hope you will not be all reporters, but like your fellow Americans, if you look at these facts, you might be willing, like other reporters, to recognize the same thing and to to communicate to the country. "

Trump's ability to make a similar argument is complicated by his choice not to expand his support beyond his loyalist base in two years. And he often used immigration as a club to attack moderate Democrats and Republicans.

A new announcement of his prime-time appearance sparked a remarkable debate in Washington over whether the US President could be trusted to tell the truth in a speech to the [19659002] Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, Leader of the Senate Minority, demanded the right of reply.

"TV stations have decided to broadcast the president's speech, mischief and misinformation, Democrats must immediately benefit from equal broadcasting time," they said in a statement. joint press.

There are still no details on who is responsible for the Democrats, but CNN will carry the answer live.

"Building the Wall"

Many Trump supporters believe that the border is besieged by criminals, easily penetrated by drug gangs and shares his view that "without borders, we do not have a country."

And the president can clearly state that he has won the elections promising to eliminate any concerns regarding a broken immigration system. At almost every gathering, Trump glows as the crowd sings: "build the wall, build the wall". The border issue has become an almost mystical symbol of Trump's appeal to his supporters.

The Wall is an equally powerful metaphor for the Liberals, including the Democratic leaders that he now wants to finance after failing to have it built for two years under the control of the GOP on Capitol Hill.

For Trump's critics, the Wall is a metaphor for an inhumane and non-American approach to immigration that has seen families of undocumented migrants separate and many children detained dying of diseases.

So when the president seeks to corrode the public opinion. Behind him Tuesday, he will act on a hot political ground and will need something extraordinary to change his mind.

This is particularly the case since Trump's speech. Critics, both inside and outside the GOP, see uncompromising rhetoric as a determining factor in the loss of the party house in the midterm elections.

The risk for Trump is that after the fire and the fury of his incessant immigration rhetoric, people who are open-minded will simply not believe it.

"I expect the president to lie to the American people," New York representative Jerrold Nadler, Democratic Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives of Parliament, said on Monday. [19659002] "Why am I waiting for this? Because he's lying to the American people and his spokespersons continue to lie to the American people," he said.

" Immigration argumentation does not land "

Such a record will complicate the attempts of Trump and his key collaborators, such as Pence and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen. Capitol Hill must sell his message Tuesday before the president goes to the border.

Kevin Liptak of CNN reported on Monday that Trump's decision to deliver a prime-time address was a result of warnings from his immigration arguments – uttered in tweets and impromptu speeches by the media. last days – do not resonate in the middle of the closing.

But if Tuesday's speech is fraught with factual errors and easily discredited, any hope of the president to influence other people than his supporters will be likely. to be precipitated.

President's speeches have rarely succeeded in changing public opinion on a key issue or in easing tension in a political stalemate; In fact, it is rather the opposite that occurs

. Trump's decision to unleash a closure, apparently fearing the wrath of conservative experts collapsed in front of a wall's funding, left the impression that he was concealing his embarrassment for his failure so far. campaign promise.

Given his hyper-political approach of the past, it is still possible that Trump does not expect to change the political party supporter of immigration, but simply wants to show his supporters that "I do not want to change the political party. he is ready to fight.

The most difficult task of Trump It will be to demonstrate that the situation on the US-Mexico border is a real crisis.

Fears of undocumented immigrants crossing the border have increased by about 100,000 by 2018, reaching nearly 400,000. The administration also cautioned against an increase in the number families who cross the border illegally. Figures reached more than 51,000 families in October and November. But the figures are still not close to the record 100,000 families per month in the early 2000s.

Nielsen told reporters at the White House that the asylum system, designed to handle far fewer requests, was "bogged down".

But White House critics are more likely to attribute these failures to the draconian approach and mismanagement of the administration, rather than to an external crisis that truly threatens security. United States.