Former MSNBC host Touré says the 2018 midterm elections and the debate over President Trump’s proposed border wall marked a turning point for Democrats.
“It’s definitely a moment of turn, of finally we can say ‘no,’ ” Touré, whose full name is Touré Neblett, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball during an interview that aired Thursday on “Rising.”
The former host said that the resistance against Trump was “truly joined” when Democrats took back the House in November. Democrats clinched 235 seats, more than enough to regain control of the lower chamber of Congress, while Republicans slightly expanded their majority in the Senate.
Touré also cited Trump’s Oval Office meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Democratic Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) earlier this month as another major breakthrough for Democrats.
A week before the partial government shutdown, Pelosi and Schumer met with Trump to discuss the looming funding lapse, but the televised conversation quickly escalated into a fight over Trump’s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump vowed during the meeting to take the “mantle” of a shutdown.
“If this had not happened, perhaps the wall is going forward and all of the insanity that goes along with that,” Touré said of the fallout from the meeting.
Trump, meanwhile, has shown no signs of backing down over his demand for $5 billion in border wall funding as the partial government shutdown nears its first full week.
While visiting a U.S. military base in Iraq on Wednesday, Trump said he will do “whatever it takes” to get the funding. And on Thursday the president resurfaced a 2011 tweet from former President Obama about taking on illegal immigration.
In an attempt to persuade lawmakers to provide funding for his border wall, Trump retweeted Obama’s comments about the need to address illegal immigration and added: “I totally agree!”
In subsequent tweets, Trump argued that the fight over the border wall wasn’t about the wall but rather about Democrats not letting Republicans “have a win.”
Congress so far has failed to break a stalemate and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) advised members not expect a vote this week to reopen the government.
The shutdown is expected to drag into 2019 after Senate and House adjourn next week.
—Tess Bonn
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