Stacey Abrams Condemns Trump’s Shutdown ‘Stunt’ in SOTU Response: ‘Defied Every Tenet of Fairness’

Stacey Abrams, who ran and lost as the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s gubernatorial race last year, condemned President Donald Trump’s government shutdown “stunt” during her response to his State of the Union speech tonight.

“Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers. They waited in line for a box of food and a sliver of hope since they hadn’t received a paycheck in weeks,” Abrams said, while speaking to a crowd in Atlanta as she led the official Democratic response to the president’s annual address. “Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games is a disgrace.”

“The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people — but our values,” she added.

She continued by calling out the Trump administration’s migrant family separation policy, saying he chose to “cage children and tear families apart,” and their response to the mass shooting epidemic, accusing the of responding “timidly while first graders practice active shooter drills and the price of higher education grows ever steeper.”

While Abrams does not currently hold public office, Democrats opted to have her speak to show a “stark contrast to President Trump’s politics of division and lack of leadership as American families are still feeling the impacts of his self-imposed shutdown,” according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Republicans responded to the choice by mocking “Sour Grapes Stacey” in reference to her refusal to concede after her GOP opponent won the gubernatorial 2018 race due to shady voting access circumstances.

Watch above, via CNN.

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