REAX Of Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) To President Trump’s Primetime Address
President Trump has spent years as the host of a reality TV show, but unfortunately, reality has never been his strong suit. Even before the Trump Shutdown, the President resorted to misinformation and stoking fear among the American people in order to justify a wasteful monument to himself. His primetime address was simply fact-free fearmongering and data-distorting demagoguery.
President Trump tried to make the case that there is crisis at our southern border that only a wall can solve. But the real crisis is being inflicted upon millions of Americans by the President’s costly and senseless shutdown. And my Republican friends in the Senate know as much. They know that the wall is more of a shiny prize for the President than a sensible policy solution to fix our broken immigration system. This is affecting real lives. Hundreds of thousands of public servants cannot just “adjust” when their mortgage comes due or their child needs to go to the doctor. Millions of Americans should not have to “adjust” when they are robbed of the government services they paid their taxes to access.
So Republicans, who are still in the majority in the Senate, have a choice. They can either continue enabling the President’s weeks-long tantrum, or they can stand up to him on the side of millions of Americans who are suffering because of it. They can either allow President Trump to build drama as if we were heading to a season finale in some show of his, or tell him to stop playing President on TV and start acting like one in real life.
It’s time to stop this nonsense. It’s time to show Americans that there are still adults left in the room. It’s time to end the Trump Shutdown.
Senator Leahy’s Full Statement: https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/010819day18trumpshutdown
Updated Impact Of The Trump Shutdown: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/updated-impacts-of-the-trump-shutdown
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CONTACT: Jay Tilton – 202-224-2667
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