Wow. That was rough.
Typically when presidents address the nation on prime time TV from the Oval Office, they’re discussing incredibly important issues. It’s where John F. Kennedy told the nation about Russian missiles in Cuba. George W. Bush addressed the nation after the September 11th attacks. Ronald Reagan addressed the Challenger disaster. You know, important things that affect the citizens of the nation as a whole and have a basis in reality.
They generally haven’t been used to promote existential fear about invaders from the southern border in a desperate attempt to gain support for a pointless border wall.
The fact is simple. There is no crisis on the southern border.
According to a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, most people blame Trump and republicans for the current government shutdown, and less than half of the individuals surveyed think that the border wall is necessary.
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What’s crazy about this whole thing is the ever-changing narrative. Leading up to the midterm election, there was the threat of the migrant caravan that has now made it to the border, though you don’t hear anything about it from ’45 anymore.
Then there was the threat of terrorists embedded in the caravan. Which isn’t a thing.
But lying is commonplace for the Trump administration. According to the Washington Post:
Through the end of 2018, The Washington Post Fact Checker team documented 7,645 false or misleading claims made by Trump since taking office. Of those, 1,130 were about immigration. Claims about foreign policy and trade tied for second, with 822 claims, followed by claims about the economy (768). … Trump has publicly promised at least 212 times that Mexico would pay for the wall, and he’s now falsely insisted five times in just the past three weeks that Mexico will still pay because of the revisions to NAFTA.
Impressive.
And when cornered on the non-issue of migrant caravans, the Trump administration switches to the very real problem that is the opioid epidemic. According to the CDC, 46 people die each day from opioids. But as Axios points out, building a wall does nothing to stop the flow of opioids into the United States.
The thing about walls is that you can tunnel under them. As the Washington Post reported:
Most are rudimentary, hand-dug tunnels that are unfinished, Brown said. In rare instances, however, agents will come upon a “sophisticated tunnel,” with everything from power lines to ventilation systems to concrete flooring. He believes the farthest a tunnel has made it across the U.S. border is about 2,000 feet. Tunnels can be difficult to detect without sophisticated equipment or intelligence that keeps law enforcement officers one step ahead of the cartels who build them. But there are also some dead giveaways.
Drugs are coming in through ports of entry in trucks, and underground in tunnels, both of which aren’t impeded by a wall. At best, the wall would make it slightly more difficult for traffickers to get drugs into the United States. But more likely, a wall would take away funds from substance dependency programs that could actually help curb the scourge of opioid overdoses.
But Trump isn’t the only liar here. My state’s former governor, Mike Pence, along with Sarah Sanders, are also down for some deception:
In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Pence was asked about a statistic, misleadingly cited by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, that 4,000 “known or suspected terrorists” were caught trying to enter the US illegally as part of the administration’s push for greater security at the southern border. (CNN)
I guess nobody wants to hire Sarah? I wonder why.
I thought Sarah Sanders was quitting her gig as @PressSec at the end of 2018, unless she pulled a meta-lie about quitting? o.O
— Dan Broadbent 🚀 (@aSciEnthusiast) January 9, 2019
What they’re not wrong about is 4000 people getting caught trying to enter the country. But it’s an understatement to say that this statistic is incredibly misleading.
Of the 4000 “known or suspected terrorists” that were apprehended, only 12 were caught at the southern border. Twelve.
CNN also reported that a State Department report for the year 2016 said “There are no known international terrorist organizations operating in Mexico, no evidence that any terrorist group has targeted U.S. citizens in Mexican territory, and no credible information that any member of a terrorist group has traveled through Mexico to gain access to the United States.”
Trump also said that previous presidents told him that they should have built a wall, and that they support Trump’s efforts to build a wall. That’s also a lie.
The hypocrisy of this entire situation – Trump calling the media the enemy of the people then almost immediately requesting national airtime – is quite remarkable.
Kind of unbelievable to see a president refer to the media as the enemy, then five hours later request airtime on the networks to deliver a prime time address to the nation. pic.twitter.com/Afr9wK2yZu
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 8, 2019
The speech
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019
Completely and entirely underwhelming. Nothing new, and the same, tired lies.
The thing about this is that no rational person is against ensuring we have secure borders. But a wall is objectively not the way to go about doing it, for reasons I already mentioned above.
Trump’s Oval Office address was almost entirely recycled rhetoric from his rallies and immigration speeches.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 9, 2019
There was nothing too interesting in that speech, and nothing too interesting about that speech.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 9, 2019
That’s it?
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) January 9, 2019
And my favorite reaction:
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 9, 2019
Here’s a list of fact checks and fact checkers because, honestly, there’s so much:
Fact-checking Trump’s speech here:
— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) January 9, 2019
No, new trade deal won’t pay for border wall, despite @realdonaldTrump‘s claims https://t.co/CRWkPiSTSl #TrumpAddress
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) January 9, 2019
Trump continues the blatant falsehood that the trade deal with Mexico will pay for the wall. He said it will do so “indirectly.” Even though it has not even been approved by Congress
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 9, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump claims illegal immigration is ‘humanitarian crisis,’ though crossings into US have declined in recent years.
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) January 9, 2019
Fact-checking Trump’s address: “266,000 aliens arrested in the past two years”: The number is right but misleading https://t.co/VMCxT4GNDM
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 9, 2019
Unlike in the past, the president is not repeatedly saying the word “wall.” Instead he’s saying “barrier.” That’s a big shift, for now.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) January 9, 2019
In his Oval Office address… Trump is painting undocumented immigrants as criminals. This has not changed since he launched his run for the White House.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 9, 2019
He’s lackluster, off tone, dialing it in completely.
Wow, this is a massive, world-class fail.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 9, 2019
Is he going to express any sympathy for the two refugee children killed because of the neglect of his administration? Never mind. Answered my own question.
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) January 9, 2019
Trump said Mexico would pay for the wall through the new trade deal. That’s not how the new trade deal works.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 9, 2019
This is Trump’s go-to Big Speech thing: graphic descriptions of murders committed by illegal immigrants. We saw it in his RNC acceptance speech, among other places.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 9, 2019
This is pretty crazy:
1. Trump put tariffs on China in July
2. China retaliates w/tariffs on US farmers
3. Trump gives $12 billion bailout to farmers in August
4. Gov shuts down. Farmers can’t get bailout money
5. Trump has to extend deadline for bailouthttps://t.co/3PBRZfe49n— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) January 8, 2019
And on the lighter side of things:
How many times will Trump sniff tonight during his address?
— St Peter (@stpeteyontweety) January 8, 2019
American Gothic. 2019. pic.twitter.com/la0qs3iBJW
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) January 9, 2019
ARGUE WITH THE PRESIDENT ALL YOU WANT BUT THERE IS NOTHING MORE AMERICAN THAN BLINDLY FOLLOWING A DUMB RICH GUY INTO HELL BECAUSE YOU WANNA DO MORE EXPENSIVE RACISM THAN USUAL
— NOT A WOLF (@SICKOFWOLVES) January 9, 2019
ICE Agents Feeling A Little Hurt That Trump Doesn’t Think They’re Doing Enough To Terrorize Hispanics https://t.co/QWO7Yc9mKN pic.twitter.com/uF0mq09SFF
— The Onion (@TheOnion) January 9, 2019