What the world media writes about Trump's war on Congress and its appeal to the nation

The wall on the border with Mexico - one of the main election ideas of US President Donald Trump - has caused a deep political crisis in the country.

Фото: Depositphotos

The $ 5 billion of state funds, which Trump is seeking to allocate to fulfill his promise, the democratic opposition in Congress considers as totally unacceptable amount, as the very idea of ​​building a wall, writes “New time".

As a result, the United States is nearing a historic record: the shatdown that lasts from December 22 - the suspension of government agencies due to a lack of state budget - may become the longest in the history of the country in a few days.

To set in motion the negotiations with the Democrats, all the rounds of which have so far failed, Trump began to threaten to impose a state of emergency in the country, and January 8 acted live with a special address to the nation. In it, he tried to justify the need to build a wall, called the situation on the border a “security crisis” and blamed the shutdown on the Democrats.

В response speech opposition leaders - Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Minority Leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer - accused Trump of disinformation and manipulation of facts.

The unprecedented war of the President of the United States with Congress, the American media have already called the most dangerous and risky moment of the presidency of Donald Trump. Here are the most interesting excerpts from the publications of Western media analyzing Trump's television address and the consequences of the shatdaun in the United States.

The Washington Post, USA

Recently, the credibility of Trump's statements has been increasingly questioned. 45, the president, was famous for thousands of exaggerations, false statements and frankly false statements, and in recent days, trying to put pressure on the construction of the border wall, he and the staff of his administration used misleading and, in some cases, obviously false data.

Trump said [in his televised address] that the border wall "will be paid for, although not directly, by the great trade deal we have with Mexico." However, this treaty - the revamped North American Free Trade Agreement - has not yet been ratified by Congress. And even if there were, it would not save the United States any money, since a smaller trade deficit does not necessarily translate into more revenue for the federal government. The agreement does not provide for targeted funding for such a wall.

Trump also said that the wall will help stop the illegal flow of drugs into the country, noting that 90% of heroin sold in the United States passes through the southern border. However, almost all of this volume is shipped through official border points, which means that the wall will have only a small effect in this case.

While Trump claims the border situation is a "crisis," the number of people apprehended by Border Patrol agents at the US-Mexico border actually peaked in 2000 and has been declining since. During fiscal 2018 [October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018], 396 people were apprehended, less than half the number of apprehensions in 579, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

Trump first used one of the rarely used platforms of the presidency: a specially prepared address to the nation from the Oval Office in prime time. However, while his predecessors mainly used such cases for unifying purposes, including declaring war and peace, Trump thus attempted to gain political advantage in his confrontation with Congress because of the financing of the border wall.

He made this attempt at perhaps the most dangerous moment of his presidency. Trump is spending his political capital to make good on his campaign promise for a border wall. Meanwhile, however, a rift is emerging in his Republican coalition, as a united and emboldened Democratic opposition refuses to back down from its arguments that building a wall would be ineffective, wasteful and morally wrong.

The Guardian, Great Britain

How serious is the current shutdown?

If it lasts until the weekend [January 12-13], it will be the longest in US history.

On Monday, January 7, the White House has already instructed the tax authority to provide payments for tax returns.

The effect of the shutdown will only get worse the longer it lasts. The National Food Aid Program is funded only until the end of January, and probably will not be able to meet the expected demand in February.

Meanwhile, dissatisfaction among government employees appears to be growing. Transportation Security Administration workers - particularly at airports across the country - are increasingly taking sick days, while the Environmental Protection Agency plans to declare a nationwide "sick day" to protest the shutdown.

Who is responsible for him?

Blame it on the impasse between a divided Congress and the White House. Trump's demand to fund the wall [on the border with Mexico] is a key sticking point. Public opinion polls show that Americans blame the Republicans, and the president in particular, for the shutdown. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans oppose building a wall, with a significant share of respondents believing it should not be a priority. In December, Trump said he would be “proud” to take responsibility for a government shutdown over Democratic opposition to funding his border wall project.

How can a crisis be resolved?

Negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House have virtually stalled. As the effects of the shutdown spread further across the country, members of Congress - including a small but vocal group of Republicans - are demanding that the Senate legislate to end the shutdown and allow debate over border security to resume while government operations continue to function.

A national emergency [which Trump has said he would like to implement] would allow him to build a wall without congressional approval, which is fraught with legal obstacles and political risks. Alternatively, Trump could simply declare a “crisis” situation and continue trying to get what he wants with political arguments.

CNN, USA

Trump faced four urgent tasks on the eve of his televised address to the nation on January 8 prime time, which was intended to demonstrate the symbolic power of presidential power and was broadcast to millions of homes and mobile devices.

Trump had to convince those Americans who tend to mistrust him that there was a real crisis brewing at the border. He had to prove that the wall was the way to solve the problem. He also had to strengthen his weakened position and change the political alignment [in his favor], while the negative impact of the shutdown was already beginning to take its toll.

Finally, in the light of the emergence of a split in the ranks of Republicans on Capitol Hill, the president needed to demonstrate a force that would strengthen his resolve within his own party and ease the pressure on the vacillating parliamentarians from furious voters.

“It is a choice between right and wrong, between justice and injustice. This is about whether we will fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve,” Trump said in his speech, seeking to elevate the debate beyond a narrow focus on the border wall.

What Trump hasn't done, however, is demonstrate any willingness to make concessions to Democrats who are rejecting demands for more than $5 billion in wall funding—though the formality of the setting has largely cooled the trademark heat and passion of his speeches.

There was not a turning point that would help Trump to achieve the victory that was so essential for him, especially in the face of serious risks, exacerbated by the threat of a new turn in the investigation of Robert Muller [about the Trump administration’s ties with Russia].

Trump's speech lacked the emotional impact of many previous presidential addresses delivered from the Oval Office table - or new material that could break Washington's impasse.

Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd, who represents the vast Texas border region in the House of Representatives, told CNN: “We didn't see anything new that we haven't seen before. Unfortunately, I don’t think that any of the parties put forward initiatives that could lead to progress in the current situation.”

The New York Times, USA

Voicing his arguments before a nationwide television audience and on the eve of a trip to the Texas border, scheduled for January 10, Trump hoped to give a new meaning to the debate [about building a wall on the border with Mexico and ending shatdaun]. After spending most of the first two weeks of shatdaun in the White House, Trump decided to use the power of presidential powers to focus public attention on his ominous warnings about the situation at the border.

However, in private, Trump found his new strategy senseless. On an informal lunch with TV presenters a few hours before he turned to the nation, he rather clearly indicated that he was not inclined to give a speech or go to Texas, but he was persuaded by counselors. This was stated by two sources who were aware of the details of this meeting and asked to preserve their anonymity.

“It won’t change a damn thing, but I’ll do it anyway,” Trump said of his visit to the Texas border, according to one of those present. According to the president, the trip will be more of an opportunity to take appropriate photographs. "But," he added, pointing to his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, "all these people say she's worth it."

The idea of ​​building a wall is popular among Trump's base, but polls show the American public generally holds the president responsible for the shutdown. In a Reuters-Ipsos poll, 51% of respondents said Trump "bears most of the blame" - up four percentage points from the start of the crisis. 32% of respondents, in turn, consider Democrats in Congress responsible.

Moreover, the public seems tired of the impasse. 70% percent of registered voters in the latest Hill-HarrisX survey were in favor of a compromise, while only 30% said that sticking to principles is more important than restarting government agencies.

The use of the Oval Office by the President for his appeal has caused a number of disputes. Critics argue that such an environment, usually used in cases of war or other national security crises, has been turned into a party platform. Pelosi and Sumer’s subsequent joint statement was the first time that opposition leaders were given nationwide airtime to respond to the President’s speech from the Oval Office.

Apart from the speeches before the Congress, until the evening of 8 in January, Trump formally addressed the nation only five times: three times in prime time and never from the Oval Office, said Mark Noller, a CBS News veteran journalist who tracks the latest presidential history. Trump's previous speeches on prime time were related to the submission of his two candidates to the Supreme Court and the announcement of his decision to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan.

By comparison, President Bill Clinton delivered 8 State of the Union addresses in eight years, 16 of which were delivered from the Oval Office. President George W. Bush made 14 such addresses (23 from the Oval Office), and President Barack Obama made 6 (12 of them from his office).

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