{"id":23220,"date":"2024-01-30T00:47:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T06:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23220"},"modified":"2024-01-30T00:47:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T06:47:42","slug":"trump-seizes-on-us-troops-killed-and-border-crisis-to-sell-general-election-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23220","title":{"rendered":"Trump seizes on US troops killed and border crisis to sell general election message"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donald Trump\u2019s core general election argument is that President Joe Biden is weak and incapable as events<\/a> spin out of control at home and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he\u2019s presenting himself as the strongman that America needs to save it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former president spent Saturday night in Nevada lambasting his successor\u2019s southern border policies, which he portrayed as a national security disaster waiting to happen. \u201cThere\u2019s a 100% chance that there will be a major terrorist attack in the United States, so many attacks, maybe, and it\u2019s all because of what\u2019s happened over the last three years,\u201d he said. And yet Trump is also trying to kill off a\u00a0Senate compromise deal<\/a>\u00a0that might ease the situation on the border \u2013 a sign of his growing power in the GOP and of his tendency to exacerbate the kind of chaos he\u2019s using as a rationale for his own election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ex-president was also quick to exploit another crisis for political gain on Sunday. After tragedy struck in the Middle East when three US troops were killed<\/a> in a drone attack in Jordan, Trump put all the blame on Biden and his perceived lack of strength, claiming that current wars would never have happened if he were in the Oval Office. \u201c(We) would right now have Peace throughout the World. Instead, we are on the brink of World War 3,\u201d Trump said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His attacks represent gross simplifications of complex problems and an inflated sense of his own foreign policy, which was chiefly characterized by cozying up to dictators and excoriating US allies, while turning the United States \u2013 a source of global stability for decades \u2013 into a force for disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Trump\u2019s attacks do stress the real political peril Biden faces at home as he wrestles with the possibility that an expanding Middle Eastern war could drag the US back into a regional conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s demagogic descriptions of a border under siege and a world that is laughing at US weakness come at a moment when many Americans are concerned about migrant flows at the southern border \u2013 and when bewildering world events and challenges to US power are multiplying. The atmosphere of disorder that Trump is trying to foster also coincides with a feeling among some voters that the country\u2019s on the wrong track \u2013 especially as high grocery prices and interest rates challenge many family budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Trump\u2019s picture of a world in disarray as Biden stands by helplessly may have some political potency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also intended to play into concerns about Biden\u2019s age and anxiety among many Americans that the 81-year-old would be unfit to lead the US in a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden has tried to throw that back at Trump<\/a>, raising questions about his temperament and mental acuity following the former president\u2019s own recent string of campaign trail gaffes, some unhinged appearances outside courtrooms and a self-absorbed victory speech after the New Hampshire primary last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How events abroad interrupted Biden\u2019s campaign swing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

News of the US deaths in Jordan came with Biden on a weekend swing through South Carolina that included the most energetic campaigning of his reelection bid yet and his most intense attacks on his predecessor and want-to-be successor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Biden mocked Trump as a \u201closer,\u201d apparently seeking to draw him into the kind of outraged reactions that could alienate critical swing voters. He visited a barber shop, a pair of churches and a dinner ahead of the state\u2019s first-in-the-nation Democratic primary next weekend as he sought to shore up support from Black voters \u2013 a critical part of his coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the awful news from the Middle East immediately overshadowed the trip. Biden asked for a moment of silence ahead of a Sunday lunch with a Baptist congregation for \u201cthree brave souls\u201d the US lost in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe shall respond,\u201d he vowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragic interruption underscored how presidents seeking reelection must balance their duties with their political priorities and the way foreign crises can threaten their political fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s position is especially acute, since the expanding crisis in the Middle East is occurring at the same time as the nettlesome domestic crisis over the southern border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump understands the president\u2019s exposure well. After issuing a statement that offered \u201cprofound sympathies\u201d to the families of the dead and prayers for the around 30 people wounded, he was quick to go on the offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden\u2019s weakness and surrender,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s final remaining GOP opponent, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also used the attack to criticize Biden as weak. Haley, whose husband is a serviceman overseas, demanded immediate action to deter Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt shows that they would not be attacking our troops if Joe Biden weren\u2019t so weak in his treatment of Iran. We should retaliate with the full force of American strength,\u201d Haley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina went even further \u2013 demanding a US attack on Iran itself, an option that, if followed, could plunge the US into a disastrous war with a powerful adversary and set the region on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is back as a major political force<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The intensification of the general election campaign confirms Trump\u2019s return as a major political force following his first two wins in the GOP nominating race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But his hardline stance on immigration is also exposing the splits in the Republican Party as a group of senators pushes for an immigration enforcement deal that they can sell to voters in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday night in Nevada \u2013 a key battleground \u2013 Trump described migrants, many of whom are fleeing political persecution and economic blight while seeking political asylum, as \u201ccriminals, rapists, murders, terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also made his most public effort yet to derail the compromise being finalized in the Senate that would allow the president to shut down the border between ports of entry when unlawful crossings reach high levels, to shorten the asylum process and to expedite work permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the leader of our party, there is zero chance I will support this horrible, open-borders betrayal of America. It\u2019s not gonna happen. \u2026 I\u2019ll fight it all the way,\u201d Trump said. He also praised House Speaker Mike Johnson as \u201cvery tough\u201d and backed the Louisiana Republican\u2019s warning that the bill would be dead on arrival in the House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, after months on the defensive on immigration, also sought to exploit the issue over the weekend. He heaped pressure on Republicans to pass the bill in repudiation of the ex-president, saying it would give him \u201cemergency authority to shut down the border until it can get back under control. If that bill were the law today, I\u2019d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the president\u2019s allies in the Senate predicted Sunday that the border deal could be ready this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was glad to hear the president come out and speak forcefully in favor of this bill. I\u2019m hopeful that we will still have enough Republicans in the Senate who want to fix the problem at the border rather than just to do Donald Trump\u2019s bidding, but we will see over the next 24 to 48 hours whether that\u2019s true,\u201d Democratic Sen. Christopher Murphy of Connecticut told CNN\u2019s Dana Bash on \u201cState of the Union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The showdown has also revived the long antagonism between the ex-president and key Senate leaders such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and could foreshadow the disarray that could unfold in a second Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But given the power of pro-Trump lawmakers in the House and the pressure Trump\u2019s piling on Johnson, it\u2019s almost impossible to see a path through Congress for the compromise. That would be terrible news for Ukraine as the immigration package is being linked to Biden\u2019s latest request for $60 billion in aid for Kyiv\u2019s effort to repel Russia\u2019s invasion. Trump also opposes that measure \u2013 in another sign of how his return to the center of Washington\u2019s political universe is already having global ramifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden kicks campaign into high gear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s most biting attacks yet on Trump were on display when he brought up the ex-president\u2019s refusal to visit a military ceremony in France while he was in office. Trump has denied calling US war dead \u201csuckers and losers,\u201d but Biden seized on the controversy in a state where the military and veterans play a huge role. \u201cThe only loser I see is Donald Trump,\u201d Biden said, \u201cIt makes me angry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president also highlighted Trump\u2019s recent apparent mix-up of Haley and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he raised questions about the former president\u2019s acuity, turning Trump\u2019s claims that he is incapable back against his 77-year-old rival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a little confused these days,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on Sunday evening, the Biden campaign issued a mocking response to a social media tirade from the former president slamming United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain<\/a> after the union endorsed the current president last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo\u2026apparently losing the UAW endorsement to Joe Biden has left Donald Trump\u2019s wounded ego with quite the SCAB,\u201d a statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains to be seen whether voters will buy into the image Biden and his team are trying to paint of Trump. But his reemergence as the GOP\u2019s likely nominee is also highlighting the extraordinary liabilities that he would carry into a general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stunning spectacle on Friday, for example, of a jury deciding he should pay $83 million for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll<\/a>, whom he was already found liable of sexually abusing and defaming in another civil case, exemplified the extreme legal threats facing the ex-president and the character issues that alienated suburban voters in 2020 during his election loss.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That case came to a conclusion with Washington still braced from an appeals court ruling on Trump\u2019s expansive claims of presidential immunity that could help decide whether his federal election interference case \u2013 one of four looming criminal trials \u2013 goes ahead before Election Day in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

edition<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s core general election argument is that President Joe Biden is weak and incapable as events spin out of control at home and abroad. And he\u2019s presenting himself as the strongman that America needs to save it. The former president spent Saturday night in Nevada lambasting his successor\u2019s southern border policies, which he portrayed as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3359,2210,1613,1230,2881,1951],"class_list":["post-23220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-border-crisis","tag-dead","tag-election","tag-trump","tag-us-military","tag-winning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23222,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23220\/revisions\/23222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}