Current:Home > BackHow Trump credits an immigration chart for saving his life and what the graphic is missing-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
How Trump credits an immigration chart for saving his life and what the graphic is missing
View Date:2024-12-23 15:38:12
Ever since the assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump has professed a unique fondness for a bar chart he credits for saving his life.
Trump was addressing the crowd in Butler about illegal immigration and reviewing a chart that detailed U.S.-Mexico border crossings during his administration and President Joe Biden’s term. Trump had his head turned to the right to review the graphic on a projection screen when the gunfire began. One bullet nicked his right ear.
He has said having his head turned “probably saved my life,” that he loves the chart “more than I even love the police” and that he will “sleep with that chart for the rest of my life.” He has made it a recurring campaign prop and is likely to show it again when he returns to Butler on Saturday.
The chart helps the Republican presidential nominee connect a defining moment from his 2024 campaign to his signature issue since he entered politics. It also is representative of how the Trump campaign has addressed immigration, making a strident argument for tougher border measures while erasing or misstating key parts of his record.
Here are more details about the chart and how Trump has used it.
A senator gave Trump the chart while on his plane
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he was aboard Trump’s plane in April to hitch a ride from an Easter family holiday in Florida to campaign events in the Midwest. While on the flight, Johnson showed Trump the chart, which depicts a dramatic increase in encounters with migrants at the southern border using statistics that are tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol.
Trump asked Johnson to send it to his communications team, which changed the title, description and edited some of the annotations, to begin rolling it out that same day at an event with law enforcement officers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At that event, Trump referred to people in the U.S. illegally who are suspected of committing crimes as “animals.”
“It’s obvious what the Biden administration has done in that chart. It shows what Trump had to deal with and how he successfully dealt with it,” Johnson said in an interview. “And then it shows just the explosion of illegal immigration under President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris.”
Border crossings hit record highs during the Biden administration but have fallen since Biden instituted a curb on asylum claims by executive order earlier this year.
Harris’ presidential campaign blames Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress not to support a bipartisan border security package that Democrats say would have helped fix a broken immigration system.
The chart shows border crossings hit record highs
The Border Patrol has tallied about 7.1 million arrests of people crossing illegally from Mexico from the start of the Biden administration through July, but many of those arrests were repeat crossers. Trump regularly hammers Biden and Harris for allowing record-high numbers, often claiming without evidence that the figure is upward of 30 million.
The chart notes policies Trump instituted such as “Remain in Mexico,” a program that makes asylum seekers wait south of the border that Biden halted when he took office. The policies are intended to show Trump drove down border crossings during his term.
The description of the chart says “Biden world record illegal immigrants, many from prisons and mental institutions,” a claim Trump usually makes in rallies even though there is no evidence countries are sending their criminals or mentally ill across the border.
The chart leaves out family separation
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
The graphic incorrectly identifies the month Trump left office, marking it as if it had happened during the spring of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic prompted travel restrictions and vastly lowered the number of arrivals. Before the pandemic, the Trump administration struggled to manage large influxes of migrants, too.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., showed the chart recently at a hearing in Congress to point out this error.
“It’s important to note and to point out how incorrect it actually is,” he said, as he pointed out that border encounters had started to trend upwards in the months that followed and while Trump was still in office.
The chart also leaves out what perhaps was Trump’s most controversial immigration policy. Between 2017 and 2018, border agents separated children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in a policy that was condemned globally as inhumane and one that Trump himself halted under pressure from his own party.
Trump rarely talks about family separation. Last weekend, Trump claimed not to understand what Harris meant when she said he was responsible for taking children from their parents.
The former president has pledged to conduct the largest mass deportation operation, prioritizing migrants with criminal records. Trump has said he could rely on like-minded governors to provide National Guard support to carry out deportations.
Trump frequently shows the chart
The chart was displayed on numerous screens on stage during his Republican National Convention speech less than a week after the Butler rally.
“The last time I put up that chart, I never really got to look at it,” he said. “But without that chart, I would not be here today.”
Trump also took the chart on his recent border visit to Arizona, displaying it on a piece of paper as he spoke from a podium below a desert hill. He has been using it increasingly more since the assassination attempt, often retelling the story of how it saved his life.
Johnson says he is happy to have played “a small little role.”
“Either the hand of God or just plain serendipity is why he avoided being assassinated, quite honestly,” he said. “That’s just the historical fact now.”
He wouldn’t say if Trump has mentioned anything about the chart to him since the assassination attempt. “Those are private conversations,” he said.
veryGood! (71743)
Related
- 13 Skincare Gifts Under $50 That Are Actually Worth It
- Start 'Em, Sit 'Em quarterbacks: Week 3 fantasy football
- Hunter Biden’s sentencing on federal firearms charges delayed until December
- Tulane’s public health school secures major gift to expand
- Food prices worried most voters, but Trump’s plans likely won’t lower their grocery bills
- Man admits falsifying violent threats after fantasy football argument
- Jon Gruden wants to return to coaching. Could he find spot in college football?
- A former officer texted a photo of the bloodied Tyre Nichols to his ex-girlfriend
- The Army’s answer to a lack of recruits is a prep course to boost low scores. It’s working
- Memories of the earliest Tupperware parties, from one who was there
Ranking
- Surprise bids revive hope for offshore wind in Gulf of Mexico after feds cancel lease sale
- 2 corrections officers stabbed, 3 others injured in assault at Massachusetts prison
- Olight’s Latest Releases Shine Bright: A Look at the Arkfeld Ultra, Perun 3, and Baton Turbo
- Hayden Panettiere breaks silence on younger brother's death: 'I lost half my soul'
- 'Wanted' posters plastered around University of Rochester target Jewish faculty members
- 60-year-old woman receives third-degree burns while walking off-trail at Yellowstone
- Former northern Virginia jail deputy gets 6 1/2 years for drug operation, sex trafficking
- 5 people perished on OceanGate's doomed Titan sub. Will we soon know why?
Recommendation
-
When does 'Dune: Prophecy' come out? Release date, cast, where to watch prequel series
-
Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new criminal charge in New York
-
Florence Pugh Addresses Nasty Comments About Her Weight
-
Commitment to build practice facility helped Portland secure 15th WNBA franchise
-
Burt Bacharach, composer of classic songs, will have papers donated to Library of Congress
-
60-year-old woman receives third-degree burns while walking off-trail at Yellowstone
-
California’s cap on health care costs is the nation’s strongest. But will patients notice?
-
Raven-Symoné Says Demi Lovato Was Not the Nicest on Sonny with a Chance—But Doesn't Hold It Against Her