Beto O’Rourke is one of the most talked about Democrats in the 2020 Presidential race.
The Texas Democrat is considered to be one of the strongest Democrats to defeat President Trump in his re-election campaign.
But that all changed for good when O’Rourke threatened Trump in one way that immediately backfired.
Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke made a name for himself losing to Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm election.
O’Rourke raised an unheard of $780 million dollars for his doomed Senate race.
That fundraising haul – as well as his closer than expected loss – led many pundits to talk up O’Rourke as a top-tier challenger to Trump in 2020.
However, running for President as a Democrat in 2020 carries some enormous challenges.
The biggest one is navigating their base’s obsession with racial grievance politics while still maintaining viability as a general election candidate.
This is especially true for candidates like O’Rourke.
Rank-and-file Democrats view straight white men as the oppressor class, so Democrats like O’Rourke have to bend over backward to support identity politics policies.
That’s why O’Rourke initially declared he would tear down the border wall that protected his hometown of El Paso, even though it clearly cut down on the number of illegal border crossings.
But while that is a good stance for a Democrat Presidential primary, it is toxic in a general election.
So O’Rourke reversed course.
At an event where he received the “El Paso Person of the Year” award, O’Rourke came out in favor of a wall in certain areas.
“I think there are in some places a need for a physical barrier, and here’s what I would do: I would work with local stakeholders, the property owners, the communities, those who actually live there, to determine the best security solution,” O’Rourke told reporters at the event. “We saw in El Paso a solution in search of a problem imposed on us by people who did not live here.”
O’Rourke realized he – and other Democrats – went way too far in calling for the government to tear down the existing border wall and had painted himself as supporting the fringe position of open borders.
“I’m just as concerned about border security and safety as anyone. I live here. I’m raising my kids a short walk from the U.S.-Mexico border. But we won’t achieve that safety and security through walls,” O’Rourke continued.
“I would work with local stakeholders, the property owners, the communities, those who actually live there to determine the best security solution,” O’Rourke explained. “We saw in El Paso a solution in search of a problem imposed on us by people who did not live here.”
“Yes, let’s have security,” O’Rourke concluded. “Let’s have safety, but let’s do it intelligently.”
This backtracking came after President Trump mocked the Texas Democrat for wanting to tear down the existing border wall.
“I hear Democrats want to take down all the walls on the Southern border,” Trump said. “I think that’s probably the end of his political career.”
Trump is right that O’Rourke probably shot himself in the foot.
It was a ‘pick your poison’ situation for O’Rourke.
Either support some border fencing and cost yourself some Democrat support in the primary, or oppose the wall and cut off your nose to spite your face in a possible general election.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
