Senate Democrat calls Trump border speech ‘disgusting’ and ‘racist’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) slammed former President Trump’s Thursday speech at the southern border as “disgusting” and “racist.” 

Murphy, a member of President Biden’s campaign advisory board, ripped Trump’s remarks given during an Eagle Pass, Texas, visit, calling them “xenophobic,” and went after the former president for his role in tanking bipartisan legislation that included border provisions last month. 

“I just think it’s disgusting,” Murphy said during an appearance on “CNN News Central” on Friday, when anchor John Berman asked him about Trump’s speech. “I think it’s racist and xenophobic.” 

Trump visited the southern border Thursday, touring the area with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). During his speech, he said, “This is a Joe Biden invasion. This is a Biden invasion,” when talking about the U.S.-Mexico border.

The former president also disparaged migrants who speak different languages. 

“They’re truly foreign languages,” Trump said. “Nobody speaks them. And they’re pouring into our country and they’re bringing with them tremendous problems.”

Murphy pushed back on Trump’s assertions, saying the former president is not familiar with what an “invasion” is.

“Donald Trump doesn’t know what an invasion looks like,” Murphy said Friday morning. “Go to Ukraine, see what happens when a neighboring country actually invades you and kills hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands of your citizens.”

The Connecticut senator then said Trump enjoys the situation at the border because he benefits politically from the “chaotic” situation, and that he helped tank the legislation Murphy, along with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.), invested months to negotiate and release, which swiftly failed.

“The fact of the matter is: Donald Trump wants the southern border to remain chaotic,” Murphy said. “We had a chance to pass that bipartisan, tough border security bill that would have allowed the president to close sections of the border when crossings get too high. You know who stopped that bill from becoming law? Donald Trump, because he does not want the border under control. He wants it chaotic, because he thinks it helps him politically.” 

Trump took credit for tanking the bill earlier this month during his speech at the National Rifle Association in Harrisburg, Pa.

“I think we killed it. I think it’s dead! But you can never say it, because bad bills always come back to life, because these guys make a lot of money with bad bills,” Trump said during that speech. “But they give millions, tens of millions of dollars that’s down there to lawyers to represent the illegal immigrants that come into our country. It’s not even believable.”

Even if the legislation cleared the Senate, it would have a tough time passing through the GOP-led House; Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the bill was “dead on arrival” at the lower chamber.