Trump says U.S. suffering from a ‘crisis of the soul’ in his plea for wall funds

government shutdown

With the partial government shutdown starting to bite, the president is explaining why he is not budging on his border wall plan.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday night said the United States is suffering from a humanitarian and security crisis at the border, as he urged Congress to provide billions of dollars for a steel barrier, calling such a wall “absolutely critical.”

“This is a humanitarian crisis. A crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul,” Trump said in a rare televised address from the Oval Office.

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Trump also put the pressure on Democrats to agree to his demands in order to reopen the government, which has been partially shut down for 18 days.

But the president did not declare a national emergency that would potentially allow him to circumvent Congress as he seeks to fulfill one of his core campaign promises.

Trump is refusing to back off his demands for $5.7 billion in wall funding, and Democrats are refusing to give Trump the money. The impasse has pushed the government into one of the longest shutdowns in U.S. history.

In recent days, Trump has changed tacks, offering a steel barrier instead of a concrete wall and openly flirting with declaring a national emergency to secure the funds. But such a declaration would inevitably invite a court challenge that would leave Trump no closer to getting his wall, even if it would provide the president cover with his base.

The political stakes are spiking as the ramifications of the shutdown are spreading throughout the nation, potentially disrupting tax refunds, airport travel and the paychecks of roughly 800,000 federal workers.

Trump and his aides are now going on the offensive. Besides Trump’s primetime speech, Vice President Mike Pence has been sitting for TV interviews, top aides are briefing lawmakers, and Trump is planning a trip to the border on Thursday.

The White House also planned to host a conference call with surrogates and allies about the “crisis at our border” at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday night after the president’s speech, according to an email invitation obtained by POLITICO.

But Democrats were also eager to get their case across. After demanding equal airtime, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered a rebuttal to Trump’s speech Tuesday evening.

Andrew Restuccia contributed to this report.