Trump campaign dismisses Democrats’ first debate as a ‘mutual political suicide pact’

A top Trump reelection campaign official called the first Democratic presidential debate “a mutual political suicide pact” and criticized the candidates for exploiting the images of a father and daughter who drowned trying to cross the southern border.

Kayleigh McEnany, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said the debate among the first 10 Democratic candidates “was the best argument for President Trump’s re-election.”

“The Democrats proposed a radical government takeover of American society that would demolish the American dream so many are gaining access to under the growing Trump economy,” she said in a statement.

She compared the “far-left, socialist policies” of the Democrats with “a mutual political suicide pact.”

“They want to throw 200 million people off their current private healthcare plans, put them into a government-run system that would eliminate choice, and crush innocent Americans with an enormous tax burden to pay for it,” Ms. McEnany said. “At the same time, Democrats wholeheartedly support giving taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants and decriminalizing illegal border crossings. They support a $93 trillion energy plan that would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and cost each American household $600,000 in new taxes.”

The president tweeted his own assessment of the Democrats’ debate while he was flying to Japan for the Group of 20 summit: “Boring!”

Ms. McEnany also criticized Democrats for trying to “cynically exploit the heart-wrenching images of the tragic deaths of a father and child near our southern border.”

“The truth is that these same Democrats first denied there was a crisis at the border, then claimed it was manufactured, and now won’t work with President Trump to fix it, choosing to slow walk needed humanitarian aid for illegal immigrant children,” she said. “Rather than encouraging more people to make the treacherous journey to enter our country illegally with promises of healthcare and amnesty, Democrats should join with the President to enforce our border so that fewer people take such dangerous risks.”