Analysis: Donald Trump runs into a wall as shutdown nears longest in US history
- 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
- Trump did steer away from earlier predictions that he might announce a national emergency
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.
