After historic drubbing in midterms, the GOP just doesn’t get it
After right wing media criticized President Trump this morning, House Republicans blew up a bipartisan Continuing Resolution that would have kept the federal government open. Instead, the House GOP passed a measure along party lines with $5 billion added for Trump’s border wall. As a result, it looks like America is headed for a government shutdown. Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on this proposal and we hope and expect the proposal to be defeated.
The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
Evidently, President Trump is more interested in responding to the likes of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh than in responding to the majority of Americans who reject his border wall proposal as wasteful, ineffective and insulting. And tonight, House Republicans proved, once again, that they are more interested in coddling Trump’s ego than in serving the public interest. As a result, the country is poised for a government shutdown, courtesy of a cruel, chaotic and incompetent President and an irresponsible political party that refuses to check him.
Tomorrow, on Friday, the Senate will vote. We call on Democrats and Republicans of good faith and conscience to stand up to Trump, to reject this ploy, and to compel Trump and the GOP – sooner or later – to keep the federal government open.
The American people were just subjected to one of the ugliest electoral campaigns in our modern history. Trump produced a racist ad that proved too much for Fox News. He shamelessly worked to incite racial hatred. He promised to change the Constitution’s definition of who is an American by executive order. He told Americans that bedraggled Central American refugees fleeing violence were coming to commit violence. Republican candidates joined in and followed suit. It was despicable.
Fortunately, voters soundly rejected this racism and xenophobia. More than 60 million Americans turned out and voted for Democrats over Republicans. The margin in the House popular vote was a whopping 9%. Forty House seats flipped, as did six governorships. For an election that became, in effect, a referendum on the bigotry and divisiveness of Trump and the GOP, the American people delivered a resounding verdict.
Unfortunately, in the right wing bubble, doing Trump’s bidding is more important than responding to the majority will. And so, Republicans are preparing to follow Trump into a government shutdown that will produce nothing but displaced workers, unserved Americans and widespread scorn. We call on the adults in the room, the Democrats, to dismiss Trump’s temper tantrum, stand up to the GOP’s cowardice and help lead us out of this manufactured crisis. The American people are behind you.
