By Lauren Elmer
---We are currently facing the longest government shutdown in the history of our nation, and Tuesday's presidential address showed that there is quite possibly no end in sight. Trump will continue to refuse to reopen the government unless Congress will appoint 5.7 billion dollars to the building of his border wall.
When Trump ran his campaign in 2016, he promised his voters that Mexico would pay for the wall. He has since backed down on this and stated that the federal government must pay for this project and that it is truly a beneficial economic move on his part. He claimed that the wall will end drug trafficking into the U.S. from Mexico, which he estimated to be a 500 billion dollar industry. He also claimed that there are thousands of immigrants pouring into the country every single day, when news outlooks such as CNN have stated that an average of 1,000 immigrants may be apprehended at the border every day. The viewer frequently found themselves entrapped in a whiz of overpowering numbers and frightening statistics. In all of those numbers, who would really be able to point out the five billion dollars that the Trump administration is asking for?
In a fact-check count conducted by NowThis News, Trump is said to have averaged one false or exaggerated claim every 34 seconds. Of this included that drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and meth are passed solely through the Mexican border. This is completely false, as these drugs commonly pass through legal ports of entry, as a drug like fentanyl typically comes into the U.S. through mail service from China. Another alluded threat in his address was that dangerous undocumented immigrants are a high-priority threat to domestic American security. For the past year, he has toured the country to meet with families of people who had been killed by illegal immigrants. In these highly publicized meetings, his rhetoric does show sympathy for the grieving families, but also highlights a certain fear mongering that was seen in his speech last night.
While Trump’s demeanor in the address was seemingly more “presidential” than it has been in the past, how will his supporters react to him reading directly off a script rather than speaking in the moment, as he usually does? A part of his image as a politician has been the brash commentary used in rallies, debates, and even his
tweets. The polls won’t be ready for the next few days, but how will Americans react to this address and move forward? How will the rest of the world view the Trump administration’s refusal to reopen the government in order to build a wall fueled by bigotry and hatred? We will be tracking the progress of the government here until it is reopened. Stay tuned...
Comments