Beto O'Rourke slams Trump on government shutdown as chatter about 2020 run intensifies
Even Ted Cruz's campaign manager says Beto O'Rourke is in a class by himself among the contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Beto O'Rourke slams Trump on government shutdown as chatter about 2020 run intensifies Even Ted Cruz's campaign manager says Beto O'Rourke is in a class by himself among the contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Check out this story on eveningsun.com: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2018/12/24/beto-orourke-slams-trump-government-shutdown-2020-talk-intensifies/2407530002/
John C Moritz, USA TODAY NETWORK Published 1:02 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2018 | Updated 1:04 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2018
Congressman Beto O'Rourke exits the auditorium at Chapin High School after holding his final two town hall meetings there Friday. (Photo: Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)
AUSTIN — Congressman Beto O'Rourke has delivered a blistering rebuke of President Donald Trump over the government shutdown, calling on Americans to rise above the partisan bickering or risk tearing apart the fabric of the nation.
"If ever there was a time to put country over party it is now," O'Rourke wrote in an essay on medium.com. "This is not about a wall, it's not about border security, it's not about Democrats and Republicans. It's about the future of our country — whether our children and grandchildren will thank us or blame us."
The critique, titled "Closed Until Further Notice," intensified speculation that the El Paso Democrat is planning a 2020 presidential run. It also won praise from the strategist who ran the U.S. Senate race to fend off O'Rourke last month.
"I've read every single word that (O'Rourke) has uttered in public life. He has never, and I mean never, talked like this," veteran Republican operative Jeff Roe, who managed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign to a surprisingly tight 2.6 percentage point victory, said in a tweet.
Roe's tweet goes on to warn such better established Democratic national figures as former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California that they'd "better pull your britches up tight and buckle your shoes because @BetoORourke is running" for president.
I've read every single word that @BetoORourke has uttered in public life. He has never, and I mean never, talked like this. @KamalaHarris@SenSanders@JoeBiden and @CoryBooker you better pull your britches up tight and buckle your shoes because @BetoORourke is running for POTUS https://t.co/qVER96J4FL
— Jeff Roe (@jeffroe) December 23, 2018
Since the essay was posted Saturday, the link has captured more than 30,000 Twitter "likes" or retweets and nearly 18,000 Facebook "likes" or shares.
O'Rourke, who leaves office Jan. 3, makes no direct mention of any plans for his political future. But he does call on Congress to pass at least a short-term funding bill to reopen the government and to reject Trump's demand for $5 billion to begin construction of his promised wall on the border with Mexico.
More: Government shutdown, day 3: White House awaits response from congressional Democrats about a 'counteroffer'
More: 3 ways the government shutdown may impact you
O'Rourke places the blame for the shutdown squarely on the president's shoulders, accusing him of seeking a partisan advantage at the nation's expense.
"If there were ever a man to exploit this precarious moment for our country and our form of government, it's Trump," O'Rourke wrote. "Sending 5,400 troops to U.S. border communities during the midterm elections. Organizing Border Patrol 'crowd control' exercises in El Paso on election day. Defying our laws by taking children from their parents, keeping kids in tent camps, turning back refugees at our ports."
"If there were ever a man to exploit this precarious moment for our country and our form of government, it's Trump."
Congressman Beto O'Rourke, blaming the president for the government shutdown
It's also clear that the three-term congressman has gained the president's attention. When O'Rourke's name came up during a White House event Friday as a possible 2020 challenger, Trump mocked him as someone who couldn't win a race in his own home state.
"I thought you were supposed to win before you run for president," Trump told reporters.
O'Rourke did lose, but by a closer margin than any Texas Democrat running statewide in two decades. His fundraising prowess, hauling in some $80 million in the race against Cruz, also helped vault him to the national stage.
"I thought you were supposed to win before you run for president."
President Donald Trump, brushing aside notions that he fears challenge from O'Rourke
Just after the networks called the Senate race for Cruz on Nov. 6, Roe huddled with reporters covering Cruz's election night celebration and predicted a White House run for O'Rourke, who began the 2018 campaign as a little-known outsider who was given almost no chance for success.
"He grew in the campaign; he grew as a candidate," Rose said while Cruz supporters were reveling in a hard-won victory. "And I can't imagine that he doesn't take that on the road."
"I don't predict Democrat politics," he added. "But the fervent following that he has nationally, no one else compares to him on their side. No one does. He is in a league of his own in the Democrat party. And if he doesn't use that to run for president, I don't know what you do with it."
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John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at John.Moritz@caller.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.
Election Day With Texas Senate Candidate Beto O'Rourke in El Paso
Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke took the stage a little after 10pm Tuesday along side his wife Amy Sanders O'Rouke and conceded the race to incumbent Ted Cruz. A sad but still energized crowd cheered on O'Rourke as he gave a passionate speech to the packed-to-the-gills Southwest Univeristy Park. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke took the stage a little after 10 p.m. on election night with his wife, Amy Sanders O'Rourke, and conceded the race to incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. A sad but still energized crowd cheered on O'Rourke as he gave a passionate speech at the packed Southwest University Park. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times
Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke took the stage a little after 10 on election night alongside his wife, Amy Sanders O'Rourke, and conceded the race to incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. A sad but still energized crowd cheered on O'Rourke as he gave a passionate speech to the packed Southwest University Park. Mark Lambie/El Paso Times
Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke visits polling stations on election day Tuesday in El Paso. O'Rourke will hold his election night watch party at Southwest University Park. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke visits polling stations on Election Day Nov. 6, 2018, in El Paso. O'Rourke later held his election night watch party at Southwest University Park. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, walked from his Sunset Heights home in El Paso to vote at the El Paso Community College Rio Grande Campus Tuesday. Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, stopped at Mesiat Elementary School to greet volunteers and voters early Tuesday morning. O'Rourke who earlier had walked from his Sunset Heights home in El Paso to vote at the El Paso Community College Rio Grande Campus, was all smiles as voters asked to tae pictures with him. RUBEN R. RAMIREZ/EL PASO TIMES
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