On Tuesday night, President Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office in his first prime-time address as president and Massachusetts elected officials were quick to respond to Trump’s claims on Twitter.
In his speech, Trump claimed that the flow of immigrants and drugs from Mexico was enough of a “humanitarian and security crisis” along the southern border to justify keeping the government closed until Democrats in Congress give him the money to build a wall.
Here’s how some Massachusetts elected officials responded:
Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, “Building a border wall won’t make us any safer. You know what will? Ending this ridiculous #TrumpShutdown and making sure vital agencies like the US Coast Guard, TSA, and federal law enforcement have the funds they need to maintain our national security.”
Senator Edward J. Markey tweeted several times ahead of Trump’s speech, first calling on his Senate Republican colleagues to pass the bipartisan legislation passed by the House last week.
“Mr. Trump, I see right through you and so do the American people,” Representative Ayanna Pressley said in a tweet following the speech. Her note on social media reflected a speech of her own on the floor of the House from earlier Tuesday.
Representative Joseph Kennedy III tweeted multiple times before and after Trump’s speech. Kennedy tweeted that Trump “chose to separate those families...keep kids in tent cities...tear gas for asylum seekers...to use the livelihood of 800,000 federal workers as collateral. But @realDonaldTrump clearly won’t choose to end a crisis he created, so the GOP Senate must.”
Representative Seth Moulton called Trump’s speech “political theatre” that was “putting our national security at risk.”
Representative Katherine Clark tweeted, “It isn’t a #NationalCrisis. He hasn’t presented a plan. Dems have already passed a #GOP funding bill. End the #shutdown before more Americans suffer.”
Representative Lori Trahan tweeted, “You shouldn’t have to shut the government down to have a policy debate. Negotiating border security is an issue separate from the responsibility that Congress and the President has to keep the lights on. It is time for this shameful shutdown to end.”
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Original story here.