Trump's SOTU was the same racist pitch for his wall — only longer

If you’ve seen one Trump speech on the wall, you’ve seen them all.

Trump’s second State of the Union address Tuesday night was like deja vu for Americans who have heard Trump’s other pitches for his pet border wall project — filled with lies and cherry-picked crime stories to vilify immigrants.

Like his speech during the government shutdown last month that tried to build support for the wall, Trump sought to portray immigrants as dangerous killers, bringing families of those slain by undocumented immigrants.

However facts show that undocumented immigrants commit far less crime than citizens born in the U.S.

Trump also reverted to his favorite fear tactic — painting scary pictures of migrant caravans from Central America.

“As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States,” Trump said in the speech.

“The lawless state of our Southern Border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all Americans,” Trump added.

Of course, U.S. law allows migrants to legally claim asylum at the border. Those migrants are not illegal, and instead have the right to have their asylum cases heard.

Ultimately, the only thing different about this SOTU compared to Trump’s other speeches on the wall was the length.

Trump’s second SOTU clocked in at a whopping 82 minutes and 28 seconds, according to C-Span, longer than his 2018 SOTU, which nearly set a record for the longest SOTU in history.

So, given that 60 percent of Americans still oppose Trump’s wall since he began making his case for the project, don’t expect this tired speech to change minds.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.