When Trump Served Thanksgiving Luncheon to Texas Troopers Then Complained There’s None Left for Him

Former President Donald Trump attempted to be philanthropic for Thanksgiving but then complained about it. On November 19, 2023, Trump handed lunch to Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers at the South Texas International Airport in Edinburg, Texas.

Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott together reached out to the Texas National Guard and Texas DPS Troopers, distributing food to those stationed at the US-Mexico border for the holiday, per Rolling Stone.

Trump then jokingly complained that there was insufficient food for him. “The food looked very good. I wanted to have some, but they didn’t have any for me. They had none left. That’s not good. That’s my kind of food too,” Trump said, drawing some chuckles from the crowd.

Trump was in Texas to support Gov. Abbott's reelection bid. Trump referred to migrants as 'the enemy' in his support speech later that day, as he amplified his anti-immigrant rhetoric and campaigned on hard-line immigration policy ideas. At the South Texas International Airport, Trump addressed a small gathering and criticized President Joe Biden for how he has handled the border, saying that the US currently has the “most unsecured border in the history, I believe, really, of the world.”

During the visit, Abbott, in turn, endorsed the front-runner for the Republican presidential candidacy in 2024, reported CNN. “We need Donald J. Trump back as our president of the United States of America,” the Republican governor said at the event. “We need a president who’s going to secure the border,” he proclaimed.

Both Abbott and Trump have vehemently opposed immigrants entering the country through the southern border and have backed their positions with derogatory and racially-coded language. Abbott launched a bus program that transports migrants from Texas to Democrat-led cities.

During his campaign tour, the former President focused on immigration as a central platform, pledging to carry out the 'largest domestic deportation operation in American history' if he is elected. In remarks that mimicked White supremacist language, he warned that undocumented immigrants are 'poisoning the blood of our country.'

Trump has pledged to escalate his anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric from the first day in office. He has said that immigrants should undergo 'ideological screening' before being permitted to enter the nation, and he has promised to reinstate and broaden the ban on Muslims entering the nation. “I will implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants,” Trump said in a speech last month. “If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you don’t like our religion (which a lot of them don’t) if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country, and you are not getting in.”

Biden campaign staffers have denounced these ideas, labeling them as 'un-American.' Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said, “Simply put, Donald Trump is going after immigrants, our rights, our safety, and our democracy. And that is really what’s on the ballot next year.”

Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 21, 2023. It has since been updated.