Around New England

Massachusetts Newspaper Refers To ‘Trump’s Wailing Wall’ in Headline Reporting President’s Speech

January 9, 2019

The Lowell Sun ran a headline above a wire story about President Donald Trump’s primetime address to the nation that referred to the proposed $5.7 billion border fence as a “Wailing Wall.”

The newspaper, a daily that covers the city of Lowell, published the headline late Tuesday, January 8, after the president’s speech:

The Wailing Wall is a portion of a retaining wall near the site of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Many Jews go there to pray. The “wailing” refers to laments for the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the year A.D. 70.

The headline apparently refers to Trump’s descriptions during the speech of victims of crime committed by illegal aliens in the United States. He argues Americans would be made safer from crime and illegal drugs by a substantial physical barrier on the country’s southern border with Mexico.

The president is trying to pressure Congress to appropriate $5.7 billion to build the border wall. He is continuing a partial federal government shutdown that began in December to try to leverage opposing Democrats and some reluctant Republicans.

Newspapers run their own headlines over wire stories.

The Associated Press news story includes the following sentence:

“With his use of a formal White House speech instead of his favored Twitter blasts, Trump embraced the ceremonial trappings of his office as he tries to exit a political quagmire of his own making.”


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