Trump Autographs Border Wall As Pandemic Rages, Economy Collapses, and Racial Justice Movement Marches
Take a look at this image from President Trump’s visit to the border wall in Arizona yesterday. Like any photograph, the power of the image is derived from the moment it captures. The photo captures Trump signing the border wall in black Sharpie before delivering another ugly race-baiting speech, all while a pandemic rages in Arizona and throughout America.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
From day one, Trump’s signature issue has been anti-immigrant bigotry. He descended the escalator in New York and has never stopped descending.
Yesterday in Yuma, Trump proved that when it comes to racism and xenophobia, there is no bottom. As the pandemic rages, the economy collapses, and the racial justice movement marches, he surrounds himself with lackeys while using his Sharpie to celebrate a rally chant turned boondoggle. Then he went to Phoenix to put unmasked fans in a closed megachurch so he could make a speech to young people punctuated by racist phrases and rank demagoguery.
Because Trump won in 2016, many in the political class seem to think that Trump’s racism and xenophobia just might work in 2020. Our prediction is that it won’t. After studying how Trump and the GOP has deployed immigrant-bashing in close races across the nation from 2017 through 2019, we find that it keeps backfiring.
As his visit to Arizona proves, Trump is forcing a choice between white backlash and multiracial reconciliation; between blaming others and solving problems; between division and unity. At a time of historic and multiple challenges facing America, neither his Sharpie nor his white nationalism is a match for the moment.
- Read the America’s Voice take on how Trump’s border wall obsession embodies Trump’s presidency: narcissistic, ineffective, corrupt, offensive and unpopular
- Read America’s Voice new report, For Trump and the GOP, Xenophobia as a Political Strategy Has Backfired on the reliance on the dehumanization of immigrants failed in contested races across the country from 2017-19
