{"id":116605,"date":"2019-02-16T15:06:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T19:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=116605"},"modified":"2019-02-16T15:12:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T19:12:08","slug":"democrats-now-supporting-potus-candidates-who-are-traitors-to-the-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=116605","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Now Supporting POTUS Candidates Who Are Traitors to the Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>\u2018I\u2019d take the wall down\u2019: 2020 hopeful O\u2019Rourke says he\u2019d \u2018absolutely\u2019 knock US-Mexico barrier<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><div id=\"attachment_116612\" style=\"width: 990px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bfe3fc7e9357378b4618.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-116612\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bfe3fc7e9357378b4618.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" class=\"size-full wp-image-116612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bfe3fc7e9357378b4618.jpg 980w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bfe3fc7e9357378b4618-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bfe3fc7e9357378b4618-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-116612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9  REUTERS\/Mohammed Salem<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>RT.com<\/p>\n<p>Failed Texas Senate candidate and likely presidential contender Beto O\u2019Rourke said he would \u201ctake the (border) wall down,\u201d becoming the first potential 2020 challenger to embrace the open borders rhetoric of the Democratic left.<\/p>\n<p>As President Trump geared up to declare a national emergency and build a border wall without congressional approval, O\u2019Rourke staked out a position completely at odds with the president.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Democrat Beto O&#39;Rourke says he wants to knock down the existing border barriers on the southern border<\/p>\n<p>MSNBC&#39;s Chris Hayes: &quot;If you could, would you take the wall down now? Knock it down?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>O&#39;Rourke: &quot;Yes, absolutely. I would take the wall down.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0jYSc1kKh8\">pic.twitter.com\/0jYSc1kKh8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealSaavedra\/status\/1096222147200995328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWould you, if you could, would you take the wall down here \u2013 knock it down?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0MSNBC\u2019s Chris Hayes asked O\u2019Rourke in an interview recorded near the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_116606\" style=\"width: 778px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bef5dda4c85b418b45e6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-116606\" class=\"size-full wp-image-116606\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bef5dda4c85b418b45e6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bef5dda4c85b418b45e6.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/5c67bef5dda4c85b418b45e6-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-116606\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 REUTERS\/Jessica Lutz, IWMF Fellow Adelante Reporting Initiative<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>\u201cWe don&#8217;t need an emergency declaration, troops deployed, or additional border walls and fencing at a time of record safety and security along the US-Mexico border,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0O\u2019Rourke added in a tweet.<\/p>\n<p>Border crossings have indeed been relatively low in recent years, but are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.apnews.com\/7359d5cf4a314da9a2545cee82586281\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climbing<\/a>. Arrests along the Mexican border fell to around 304,000 in 2017, the lowest number since 1971. Since then, they have risen to 396,000 in 2018. Arrests are up again this year, with 201,500 illegal immigrants apprehended between October and January.<\/p>\n<p>While large swathes of desert and badlands remain completely unguarded, some stretches of the border are protected by fencing, walls and other barriers. O\u2019Rourke\u2019s native El Paso is shielded by 124 miles of double-layered barrier which significantly slashed crossings after it was completed in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>El Paso and the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez have been separated by a chain-link fence since the 1970s, with the latest reinforcements added since 2006. The barriers were built after then-president George W. Bush passed the Secure Fence Act, funding over 600 miles of fencing along the 2,000-mile border.<\/p>\n<p>The act, O\u2019Rourke continued, has\u00a0<em>\u201cnot in any demonstrable way made us safer. It&#8217;s cost us tens of billions of dollars to build and maintain. And it&#8217;s pushed migrants and asylum seekers and refugees to the most inhospitable, the most hostile stretches of the US-Mexico border, ensuring their suffering and death.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rourke\u2019s embrace of open borders played well with some of the more fervent opponents of Trump\u2019s wall, and with his own fangirls.<\/p>\n<p>The former Texas Representative was mocked and slated by the right, however.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Perfecto! Un pais no mas! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mX0rVTjgJa\">https:\/\/t.co\/mX0rVTjgJa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IngrahamAngle\/status\/1096401665593241600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Curiously, some of the Democrats who are fervently opposing Trump\u2019s border wall initiatives now were OK with Bush\u2019s fences. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fierce opponent of Trump\u2019s planned wall, voted in favor of the Secure Fence Act in 2006. So too did 64 House and 26 Senate Democrats. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden all supported the act, which pledged $8 billion towards building barriers and another $46 billion for other border security initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi \u2013 Trump\u2019s two opponents in the fight for wall funding \u2013 have endlessly criticized the wall, but neither have advocated to remove existing barriers.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are \u2018immoral,\u2019 why isn\u2019t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the US and Mexico, even the new ones just built in San Diego at their very strong urging,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Trump tweeted last month.\u00a0<em>\u201cLet millions of unchecked \u2018strangers\u2019 just flow into the US.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are \u201cimmoral,\u201d why isn\u2019t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the U.S. and Mexico, even the new ones just built in San Diego at their very strong urging. Let millions of unchecked \u201cstrangers\u201d just flow into the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1087472133230551040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, made a similar argument on Thursday. Naming a handful of potential Democratic presidential candidates, Parscale asked whether they would back O\u2019Rourke\u2019s call to tear down the wall.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rourke has not announced his candidacy, but opened the week with a campaign-style rally in El Paso \u2013 right across the road from a Trump rally. While Trump promised he would\u00a0<em>\u201cfinish the wall,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0O\u2019Rourke declared that\u00a0<em>\u201cwalls end lives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/451610-us-mexico-wall-dems\/\">https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/451610-us-mexico-wall-dems\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018I\u2019d take the wall down\u2019: 2020 hopeful O\u2019Rourke says he\u2019d \u2018absolutely\u2019 knock US-Mexico barrier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}