Pressley says ‘the cruelty is the point’ for Trump in response to speech

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), in delivering the Working Families Party response to President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, referenced an article arguing “the cruelty is the point” for Trump and his administration.

“For Donald J. Trump, the cruelty is the point,” Pressley said, quoting a 2018 essay written by The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer. “Over the past year, I’ve seen the bigotry and hatred from this administration firsthand. I visited a detention center on the border and sat with immigrant mothers separated from their children and denied the basic necessities of life.”

“Before I was even sworn in, I sat with advocates and survivors who opposed the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and later, I stood on those same steps to speak out against draconian attacks on the right to safe, legal abortion,” she added.

Pressley described her experience as a member of the House Oversight Committee and its questioning of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who, she said, “refused to say out loud if safe housing is a human right.”

“Every day … we see the impact of an administration that emboldened white nationalists and promotes bigotry,” Pressley added. “Tonight, I want to remind Donald J. Trump that I see right through him, the American people see right through him.”

The Working Families Party is a progressive political organization that has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential bid. Pressley has also endorsed Warren for president.

Pressley joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a fellow member of the “squad” of progressive freshman congresswomen, in boycotting Trump’s third State of the Union address.

“I cannot in good conscience attend a sham State of the Union when I have seen firsthand the damage Donald J. Trump’s rhetoric and policies have inflicted on those I love and those I represent,” Pressley said in a statement earlier Tuesday.