In El Paso, Trump Trashes Democrats' Extreme Calls for Open Borders

President Donald J. trump disembarks Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, following his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.(Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

In his first 2020 campaign rally speech, President Trump lambasted Democrats who seem not only to be arguing against his proposals for strengthening the border, but in fact seem to be arguing for weakened border security. Trump detailed the litany of ways in which today’s Democrat Party is positioned far away from the common American. At The Federalist, John Daniel Davidson details Trump’s speech, and contrasts it to the counter-rally held by Beto O’Rourke, a potential Democratic candidate for president. Davidson writes (abridged):

EL PASO, Texas — It was altogether fitting that President Trump’s rally Monday night in El Paso was something of a circus. After all, it was the first official campaign event of his 2020 reelection bid.

It was a perfect setting for Trump to draw out the contrasts between his GOP and the Democratic Party heading into the 2020 cycle. On everything from the border wall to abortion to the Mueller investigation to the booming economy and the Democrats’ Green New Deal, Trump presented himself as reasonable and Democrats as extreme.

Whether he meant to or not, O’Rourke played right into Trump’s drama.

It’s hard to interpret O’Rourke’s comments as anything but advocating for open borders. Or at the very least, that we should have less security along the border than we currently do—indeed, that some or all of those 650 miles of border fencing should be torn down. There is quite simply no other way to parse what he said.

Trump is right about where Democrats now stand. As the president shifts into campaign gear—clearly a more comfortable speed for him than governing—he sees that his opponents are increasingly in thrall to extreme positions on everything from immigration to abortion to federal regulation of the economy. “The Democrat Party has never been more outside of the mainstream,” he said. “They’re becoming the party of socialism, open borders, late-term abortion, and crime.”

The rally in El Paso made clear that Trump intends to exploit these things in 2020.