Dem lawmaker: Trump ‘an idiot’ for using Egypt mosque attack to push border wall

Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) on Sunday called President Trump “an idiot” for suggesting that the mosque attack in Egypt on Friday proved the need for a wall along the U.S. southern border.

“What an idiot… Does [President Trump] foolishly think a border wall would have prevented 9/11, Charleston, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Sutherland Springs?” Vela tweeted in response to a Washington Post article about Trump’s comments.

What an idiot… Does @realDonaldTrump foolishly think a border wall would have prevented 9/11, Charleston, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Sutherland Springs?

— US Rep. Filemon Vela (@RepFilemonVela) November 26, 2017

In his tweet, the Democratic congressman referenced a number of mass murders that have occurred in the U.S. over the years, many of them committed by American citizens. 

On Friday, Trump renewed his call for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico after more than 300 people were killed in an attack on an Egyptian mosque earlier that day.

“We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will,” Trump wrote. “Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.”

Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life. We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017

Vela has been an outspoken critic of the president’s proposed border wall, one of Trump’s core promises during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In October, the lawmaker proposed an amendment to a border security bill using Trump’s language to describe the wall, in order to “provide the members of [the House Homeland Security] Committee the clearest picture, to date, of the conflicting and absurd vision the President has for his wall.”

In particular, Vela took issue with Trump’s description of “a big, beautiful border wall.”

“Will the wall, as authorized under this bill, have ‘a big, beautiful door’ for legal immigrants like President Trump said he envisioned back in August 2016?” Vela said in a statement.