“This is a weak president with little to run on in 2020 besides spreading lies, stoking fear and exploiting racial grievance.” — Frank Sharry
The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, after the Senate’s passage of a resolution blocking President Trump’s emergency declaration for border wall construction:
Both the House and Senate have now delivered a stunning rebuke to President Trump, offering a reminder of the president’s weakness and the unpopularity of his signature issue – unfiltered xenophobia and anti-immigrant fear-mongering. Good for the 12 Republican Senators who stood up for the Constitution, and shame on the 41 Republican Senators who stood up for Trump over the Constitution.
Keep in mind, this entire stupid wall debate – including the government shutdown and the emergency declaration debacle – has been happening because President Trump liked the way rally-goers pumped up his fragile ego feel when he deployed a racist memory device and got them to chant ‘build the wall.’ But rally chants do not policy make.
Trump couldn’t convince the country or his Republican colleagues during two years of GOP control of Congress. Since then, he has been desperately trying to save face because hardline anti-immigration pundits and conservative personalities have said a few mean things about him. As he turns toward next year’s campaign, Trump is left with no agenda, no accomplishments and only one theme — xenophobia — as the beating heart of Trumpism.
The problem for Trump is that the more he relies on this ugly and cynical ploy, the more he turns the majority of Americans against him. He ran a virulently xenophobic campaign in the run up to 2018, and Democrats won by the biggest margin in a midterm election in American history. He doubled down in the government shutdown fight, and Nancy Pelosi cleaned his clock. Then he tripled down with a phony declaration of a national security declaration, and suffered two stunning bipartisan defeats in Congress. Mr. President, when sycophantic and slavish Republican members of Congress turn on you, perhaps it’s time to reconsider your go-to.
The bottom line is now clear. This is a weak president with little to run on in 2020 besides spreading lies, stoking fear and exploiting racial grievance. Next year it will be up to the American voter to reject his zero-sum, us-vs-them, divide-and-distract strategy once and for all.
