Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar said she won’t join Donald Trump during his visit to El Paso on Wednesday, saying that she “declined the invitation because I refuse to be an accessory to his visit.” Escobar writes that she instead wanted to have a phone call with him to express “that his words are powerful and have consequences,” but was dismissed and told he was “too busy.”
It’s clear the White House’s invitation was not in good faith, but for optics due to the president’s racist rhetoric inciting white supremacist violence. Rep. Escobar made the right choice, and that’s to continue meeting with those most affected by Trump’s words, previously saying that “the president has made my community and my people the enemy. He has told the country that we are people to be feared, people to be hated.”