Congressman fires back at Sarah Sanders over 'stupid' Trump border plan

Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump’s plan to militarize the border by insulting a Democratic congressman, and that congressman hit back Thursday morning.

At Wednesday’s White House briefing, Sanders was asked about a tweet from Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) that pointed out the ridiculous cost of Trump’s plan to militarize the border with National Guard troops. Sanders responded by attacking Gallego, a former Marine who served in Iraq.

“If that congressman is so concerned, maybe he ought to show up and actually support legislation that would fix these problems,” Sanders said.

Gallego gave a blistering response.

Hey @PressSec – Unlike your boss, I did show up and served my country in the Marines. Now, I show up in Congress to serve my country again and act as a check to some of your boss’s worst plans. https://t.co/phmFbRWvnh

— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) April 4, 2018

The congressman elaborated on his thoughts during a CNN interview Thursday morning.

“I will gladly work with the president when his ideas aren’t stupid and detrimental to the United States,” Gallego said. “Unfortunately this is what this plan is. It was not planned out. It’s using our National Guard troops who are greatly trained — you’re going to pull them out of their private lives to essentially go and solve a political problem.”

“This is a failing presidency,” he said, and pointed out that if Trump had made good on his promise to support bipartisan legislation, “there would be more assets at the border than he’ll end up doing with these National Guards troops.”

Presidents Obama and Bush also deployed troops to the border, but neither of them did so based on racist lies they heard on Fox News days earlier. And neither presided over record low border apprehensions.

Trump is wasting time, money, and effort on a non-existent “problem” so he can stoke a political base that shares the hatred of immigrants that Trump espouses. And while he’s misusing the military to promote his racist agenda, he is also preparing to leave Syria in the control of the Russians.

Through it all, Trump has left the lives of Dreamers hanging by a thread, refusing to consider any deal on DACA while trying to blame Democrats for his own immigration woes.

That his White House would attack a Democratic congressman who served his country shows just how desperate Trump and his team really are.