Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said late Wednesday that President Trump’s revived travel ban is meant to “distract” the nation from what he described as “super unpopular” aspects of the massive GOP policy package working its way through Congress.
During an interview on MSNBC’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” the Senate Democrat said that the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will “steal from regular Americans in order to pad the rich.”
“Nobody wants that. That’s super unpopular. So how do you get that done?” he continued. “You distract people by making them think that they’re at war with other Americans — making them think that they have something to fear from people who look different from them or speak a different language.”
Murphy described the strategy as something “demagogues have done all throughout time… while, on the side, they’re stealing from us.”
Trump earlier Wednesday signed a proclamation banning travel to the United States for individuals from 12 countries, citing national security concerns. He also announced new restrictions for entry into the U.S. for travelers from an additional seven countries.
The proclamation, which echoes a travel ban Trump instituted in his first term, takes effect Monday.
Trump, in another move on Wednesday, ordered a probe of former President Biden’s mental state and executive actions his predecessor took while in office.
The actions come as Trump’s agenda faces new roadblocks in the Senate, with tech billionaire Elon Musk vocalizing criticism of the massive bill and calling on lawmakers to block it from passing.
Murphy said Trump’s moves are “chiefly in service” of changing the focus of the national conversation.
“This is important, you know, anytime you ban people coming to the United States from other countries, it has a real impact,” Murphy told Psaki.
“But it is chiefly in service of trying to get us all talking about that — or talking about the Biden investigation they launched today — instead of talking about the centerpiece of this story, which is this bill to make the rich even richer at the expense of everybody else.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for a response to Murphy’s remarks.
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