President Donald Trump seems determined to divide the U.S. ― and it’s not helping to “make America great again,” according to Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.).
Appearing on the “Daily Show,” Wednesday, Kennedy criticized Trump and his administration for pushing policies that divide the country in a way that he says is “dispiriting” and “dangerous.”
“The president and his administration have decided that somehow, for some reason, our country today is us-against-them ― whether it’s a budget, whether it’s a healthcare bill, whether it’s deciding who gets into college,” Kennedy told host Trevor Noah.
“Almost every single policy proposal you have seen from this a lot of this administration from day one pits American against American,” he added.
Kennedy took issue with the meaning behind Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which continues to be a prominent catchphrase during his presidency.
“The part that is most dispiriting and dangerous for all of us is that that is in somebody’s definition of making America great,” the congressman said.
“That somehow we are at our best when we are divided, when we are fighting with each other, when we are trying to compete against somebody else to get to some zero sum game. And by you succeeding means you’re putting some other American down.”
Kennedy said that he didn’t believe that the “us versus them” philosophy was right for the country and called for unity among all Americans.
“You win when you get 320 million Americans pulling for each other and fighting for each other ― and knowing that we’re not going to leave you behind,” he told Noah.
Kennedy has been known to give impassioned speeches pushing back on policies he fundamentally disagrees with, that are backed by Trump and the GOP.
When Trump tweeted last month that transgender people were no longer allowed to serve in the U.S. military, Kennedy criticized the president for questioning service members’ patriotism and courage while speaking on the House floor.
The congressman gave a similar speech that went viral in March when he told House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act showed more malice than mercy.
Kennedy also spoke about the issues of health care, transgender people in the military, immigration and unity in the White House in his interview with Noah.
Watch Kennedy’s full interview in the video above.
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