However, some independent and Republican voters are not buying it.
“That [rheotic] is scary, I think this country needs to change.” Ken Seice—an Oklahoma rancher who identifies as an independent—told The Epoch Times. “I’m not a Republican or Democrat either way, I’m an American and I want to see Americans prosper like they did when I grew up. Maybe I’m too old school in thinking that but we need peace and togetherness in this country and right now we don’t have that.”
Mr. Seice believes that politics is all about power and money and doesn’t believe those in power really are concerned about their constituents.
Trump Is Not a Divider: Republican Voter
Almost a week ago at an event in Miami, Florida, President Biden once again took a shot at President Trump and MAGA.“Trump and his MAGA friends are dividing us, not uniting us; dragging us back into the past, not leading us to the future; refusing to accept the results of a legitimate election; seeking, as Trump did—says, to ’terminate' elements of the Constitution; embracing political violence—embracing it,” the president said.
But Republican voters like Bob Roberts out of Chicago, Illinois, told The Epoch Times that type of talk from President Biden is verifiably not true and that President Trump is not a divider.
“If you think at Trump and you look at his polls, Mexicans are voting for him, black people are voting for him, people are leaving the Democratic national party and there’s a reason why. The things that he’s promising for minorities are not materializing. Minorities did better under Trump than they did under Biden.”
He goes on to say that he believes the Democratic National Committee is demonizing President Trump.
“Of course, that is the strategy Demonize the man call him racist, call him Hitler, call him a Nazi it’s the only strategy they have,” Mr. Roberts said. “MAGA is not evil, MAGA is an idea, MAGA is a nationalistic idea of trying to bring back everything that was right about America to what they think.”
But there are some Democrats who say President Biden is for once showing the fire he needs to beat President Trump in a general election.
“This is what we’ve been looking for, this is what we’ve been waiting for. I honestly didn’t think he had it in him anymore,” George Ramos, a Democrat from Los Angeles, told The Epoch Times. “If he keeps speaking like this there is no way he loses to Trump—and yes MAGA is absolutely evil.
Ramos believes that MAGA is responsible for the rise in hate crimes across America and says he has spoken to some MAGA activists.
Blame Game Over the Failed Border Deal
This week President Biden continued his attacks on President Trump this time for sinking a bipartisan immigration bill, a bill that Trump has called a “trap for Republicans.”Biden had engaged for months with Senate leaders on a carefully negotiated plan to pair policies intended to curb illegal crossings at the U.S.–Mexico border with $60 billion in wartime aid for Ukraine. The bill was intended to exhibit American strength around the world and would have also sent tens of billions of dollars more for Israel, other U.S. allies in Asia, the U.S. immigration system, and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.
But after Republicans rejected the compromise, the president and Senate leaders are now stranded with no clear way to advance aid for Ukraine through Congress. They have run into a wall of opposition from conservatives—led by Trump—who reject the border proposal as insufficient and criticize Ukraine funding as wasteful.
Some independents say immigration is one of the biggest issues for them right now.
“I look for a closed border, not because I dislike any people from Mexico or whatever,” Mr. Seice said. “I think for the safety of all. I think that what happened with the cartels with the rapes and the murders what the children see, I understand that it’s a great country. But I think it needs to be protected and they need to come in right and they need to come in safe.”
Meanwhile, Democrat voters maintain that Biden is doing everything he can on immigration and that a closed border is not the answer.
“I’m not saying amnesty for all or anything,” Mr. Ramos said. “But you can’t just shut down the border, you have to do something more than that, you have to respect the fact that people are in a tough spot south of the border and unfortunately Republicans and Trump don’t do that, they think they’re all evil.”
Democrats in the Capitol vented frustration at their colleagues as it became clear that the deal was done.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) cast Tuesday as a “gloomy day here in the United States Senate” during a floor speech in which he scolded Republicans for backing away from the deal. He still dared them to vote against border security—an issue they have long championed.
But independents like Mr. Seice think that once again, politicians, Democrats in particular are just using this border bill for influence and money.
“How can the Democrats go to bed at night knowing that this is nothing but power and money and what they’re doing to these people? There’s a place in hell for people like that,” he said.
