The White House trotted out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to announce that Trump is sending National Guard troops to the border to combat a fake border crisis and distract from the backfiring of his trade war with China.
Video of Kirstjen Nielsen announcing the National Guard troops to the border:
Trump uses a fake border crisis to distract from China kicking his butt in the trade war. pic.twitter.com/YeCkVEKtim
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 4, 2018
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Nielsen announced, “In the meantime, the president has directed the National Guard personnel be deployed to the southern border. The department of defense has long supported the efforts of DHS to protect the nation’s this includes ongoing counter-narcotic mission and infrastructure construction and training and aerial support throughout the western hemisphere.”
The announcement came on the same day that China announced retaliatory tariffs against the US that will hit states that Trump carried.
Here is a list of tariffs that will hit the red states that Trump carried in 2016 hard:
It is not a coincidence that Trump is trying to use a fake border crisis to motivate his base while distracting from the fact that the trade war that he tried to start with China is looking like it could be an economic disaster for them. Trump is trying to flip the script. The White House wants everyone to be talking about the fake border crisis, because then they aren’t talking about what Trump’s terrible decisions are poised to do to the economy.
Trump thinks that creating a border crisis will get Republican voters to the polls in November, but if the trade war becomes a reality, there isn’t enough immigration talk in the world that will be able to save Republicans if voters in red states lose their jobs due to the Trump tariffs.
The National Guard to the border stunt is a distraction to hide just how badly Trump’s trade war is going.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
