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11 tweets,
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1. @TheDemocrats are doing the moral thing in the way they are dealing with the immigrant crisis. But narrowing the focus on that may not be the most effective way to deal with it. First, the humanitarian issues are not negotiable and the courts and members of Congress
2. must continue to expose Trump's cruelty and do what must be done to address this horrendous crisis. But we must remember that Trump's hardcore supporters want to see the migrants suffer. The lesser evil members of his base are the ones we need to reach.
3. Politically, the issue may also energize the Democrats' base but that has been the status of the Democratic base since November 9, 2016. But when we allow the narrative to be solely focused on the migrants' plight, we give Trump a pass on the root causes of the problem and
4. the fact that he bears the blame. First, he amplified the loophole in the asylum laws then changed the way it was handled to create the massive number of dentitions including kids. Obama was dealing with it but Trump made this the key talking point in the 2018 midterms.
5. He essentially advertised for people to come to the border that he announced daily was "wide open." Democrats often get caught up in focusing on the wrong issue. There is a crisis at the border and Trump shot off his big mouth and made it a lot worse. Why don't we tell the
6. voters? The only fix, other than ending our asylum laws, is to deal with the root causes. But because Trump uses the issue for political gain, he either has no motivation to deal with it or, as with so many other issues, is simply incompetent and unable to act as an
7. effective chief executive. So @TheDemocrats need to add to the mantra "Trump caused it" the additional chorus that "Trump is a failure as president who can't protect our borders." Argue he's an incompetent and easily manipulated by people like Stephen Miller. You may have
8. noticed Miller is not generally being rolled out during this crisis. That's the international signal for "the guy is a political liability." So our case is, Trump is to blame for so many people coming here & he can't fix it because he's incompetent & surrounded by evil
9. monsters like Miller, The Democrats need to walk and chew gum at the same time. @AOC and others at the border is the right visual. But the Presidential candidates need to make Trump defend his incompetence. That is what will move the needle and finally force him to act.
10. In the end, maybe we can fix more than just this crisis. If we set it up Trump will be motivated to come to the table to fix the border crisis by stopping the detention policy that turned the problem into a humanitarian crisis. Maybe the Dreamers too.
11. If not, causing the Trump White House to react to the claims Trump is to blame, may get something done. And getting kids out of concentration camps is the job of every decent American. @JoeBiden @ewarren @KamalaHarris @JulianCastro @RepSwalwell
