US President Donald Trump’s prime-time address offered no hope for a quick end to a government partial shutdown triggered by the wall funding row
US President Trump has run into a wall. It’s the new Democrat House.
In the first Oval Office address of his presidency, Trump argued Tuesday that a dire security and humanitarian crisis at the Mexican border has made it imperative for Congress to approve his immigration proposal, including allocating US$5.7 billion for a wall he says will block illegal immigration and illicit drugs.
“How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” the president said in a blunt appeal to congressional Democrats after detailing horrific murders allegedly committed by illegal immigrants in California, Georgia and Maryland.
“To those who refused to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask, imagine if it was your child, your husband or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken.”
Trump has always been most comfortable speaking at unscripted campaign-style rallies where he draws from the energy of a raucous crowd.
This time, sitting at the historic Resolute desk and reading from a teleprompter, he was sombre and a little stiff at first, then spoke in darker and more emotional tones, though he didn’t deliver on his threat to declare the situation at the southern border a national emergency.
Some of Trump’s conservative allies had pushed him to declare a national emergency. The move, his allies believe, may be Trump’s only path to meet his campaign promise to build the wall while Democrats have control of the House.
Even if it were blocked by courts, Trump might declare a face-saving victory with such an order and reopen the government.
