President Donald Trump speaks while participating in a tour of border wall prototypes.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Donald Trump sought the presidency on a fantasy: with Mexico’s money, he would build a “great wall” of concrete and steel across America’s southern border.
Ever since he won, Trump has obscured his inability to make the fantasy real. Rhetorically, he has fogged the air on whether he seeks a wall or something else, whether he needs money from Congress or not, whether the wall is “desperately needed” or already largely built.
The federal government remains shut down because one chamber of Congress no longer will play along. The Paul Ryan-led Republican House shielded the president from political discomfort on his pledge; the Nancy Pelosi-led Democratic House will not.
Ryan knew the pledge was irredeemable. When I asked him about it before the 2016 election, he chuckled.
Trump knew it, too. Days after his inauguration, he told Mexico’s president of his “political bind, because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to. I’ve been talking about it for a two-year period.”
When his counterpart reiterated firm opposition, a leaked transcript of their phone call showed, Trump replied: “But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that.”
Resistance extended beyond financing. Influential Republicans, such as Texas Sen. John Cornyn, cast doubt early on about the feasibility and effectiveness of a border-long barrier.
By spring 2017, Republicans abandoned a White House demand for $1 billion to begin wall construction. Covering that retreat, Trump called money for replacement of existing barriers a “down payment.”
Later, as they pursued shared tax cut goals, Republicans trumpeted Trump’s theme anew. “It is time for The Wall,” Ryan tweeted in August 2017.
But it wasn’t time. Though Republicans never explicitly rebuffed the president, the time never came while they controlled both chambers of Congress the last two years.
The day Trump became president, fences and other barriers spanned roughly one-third of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Entering his third year, that’s still the case — and now newly empowered Democrats bluntly spurn his wall demands.
Trump initially backed away from the fight. Much of the wall “has already been built,” he claimed, with the Pentagon poised to complete it whether Congress furnishes $5 billion for the job or not.
Besides, Trump added, “We are not building a concrete wall” but rather “artistically designed steel slats.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, assured of White House support, last month whisked through stop-gap spending legislation without wall money.
Then, after conservatives wounded him with accusations of weakness, the president reversed himself. He killed McConnell’s bill and triggered the shutdown.
Trump remains vulnerable to embarrassment as his legal and political troubles mount. From the right, Ann Coulter suggested he’d been “scamming voters” with his wall pledge; from the left, Pelosi mocked his willingness to accept “a beaded curtain.”
In the politically charged standoff, even the candor of his own top aide made Trump uneasy.
“To be honest, it’s not a wall,” outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times. “We left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.”
Yet that “solid concrete wall” — as a symbol of impenetrable resolve — gives Trump’s pledge its emotional punch with his supporters. So despite having made similar comments himself, the president rebutted Kelly.
“An all-concrete wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media,” the president tweeted. “Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see-through…Makes sense to me!”
It doesn’t make sense to most Americans, who consistently tell pollsters they oppose a border-long wall. Democrats insist it would send the wrong message about national values without achieving its purported goals.
While beseeching lawmakers for taxpayer money, Trump still claims “Mexico is paying for the wall.” He cites unspecified proceeds from a revised North American Free Trade Agreement.
In fact, no such proceeds exist; the revised trade deal has been neither ratified nor implemented. The false claim illustrates Pelosi’s description of how Trump confounds negotiations.
“He resists science, evidence, data, truth,” the new speaker told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. Pelosi now has the power and inclination to spell that out.
WATCH: Tech from self-driving cars could solve border security without Trump’s $5 billion wall
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Trump wall – Wikipedia
Trump wall President Donald Trump stands in front of a section of border wall near Yuma, Arizona, June 2020 The Trump wall, commonly referred to as “The Wall”, is an expansion of the Mexico–United States barrier that started during the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and was a critical part of Trump’s campaign platform in the 2016 presidential election.[1] Throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump called for the construction of a border wall. He said that, if elected, he would “build the wall and make Mexico pay for it”. Then-Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto rejected Trump’s claim that Mexico would pay for the wall; all construction in fact relied exclusively on U.S. funding.[2][3][4] In January 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13767, which formally directed the U.S. government to begin wall construction along the U.S.–Mexico border using existing federal funding.[5] After a political struggle for funding, including an appropriations lapse resulting in a government shutdown for 35 days, and the declaration of a national emergency, construction started in 2018. The U.S. built new barriers along 455 miles (732 km),[6][7][8] 49 miles (79 km) of which previously had no barrier.[7][8] Much of the remainder consists of 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) steel bollard wall where previously there had been fencing or vehicle barriers.[6] Additionally, a private organization called We Build the Wall constructed under five miles (8 km) of new wall[9] on private property near El Paso, Texas. By August 2020, the portions constructed by the organization were already in serious danger of collapsing due to erosion, and the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging four people, including former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon,[9][10][11][12] with a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors by illegally taking funds intended to finance construction for personal use.[13] An unpublished memo from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection leaked in March 2022 revealed that the “impenetrable” border wall had been breached more than 3,200 times by the time Trump left office in 2021.[14] Initially, on January 20, 2021, newly inaugurated U.S. president Joe Biden terminated the national emergency and halted construction of the wall,[6][15][16] but the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security later hinted that the construction of the wall may continue under Biden’s administration.[17][18] In April 2021, the Biden administration cancelled all border wall projects that were being paid for with funds diverted from U.S. Department of Defense accounts.[19] By October 2021, several border wall construction contracts have been cancelled and, in some cases, land that was acquired by the government from private property owners via eminent domain, were returned to their owners.[20] On July 28, 2022, the Biden administration announced it would fill four wide gaps in Arizona near Yuma, an area with some of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.[21] Background[edit] A protest of the wall in 2016 Fence between San Diego’s border patrol offices in California (left) and Tijuana, Mexico The Mexico–United States barrier is a series of vertical barriers along the Mexico–United States border aimed at preventing illegal crossings from Mexico into the United States.[22] The barrier is not one contiguous structure, but a discontinuous series of physical obstructions variously classified as “fences” or “walls”. Between the physical barriers, security is…
The Great Wall of America – Photo Essays – TIME
The Great Wall of America – Photo Essays TIME Photographer Anthony Suau tracks the progress of the US effort to build a permanent barrier between the United States and Mexico. Get the Latest Photos from Time.com Get TIME photos and pictures of the week delivered directly to your inbox.
America's Wall
Great Wall of America – RationalWiki
Great Wall of AmericaExisting barrier near Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Depressing, ¿verdad? This article concerns the great Muslim-Latino Repellant Barrier. For our article on the rallying cry of the people that spawned this grand and dastardly scheme, see “secure the border”. “”I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively—I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words. —Donald Trump[2] (and it’s gonna be YUUUGE) “”MEXICO WILL NOT PAY FOR THE FUCKING WALL —Vicente Fox Quesada, former President of Mexico[3] “”TEAR DOWN THE FUCKING WALL —Roger Waters as the honourable Judge Worm[4] The Great Wall of America or Great Wall of Mexico is a ripoff tourist trap planned physical barrier[note 1] from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, proposed to separate the USA from Mexico and thus prevent immigration from Latin America into the USA. The idea is most closely associated with President Donald Trump, but a high physical barrier along the entire land border is not a new idea. There is no physical reason why a wall is impossible, and large sections of the border are already secured by high fences, but construction of the remainder would be expensive, and the US government would need to acquire significant amounts of land from private owners and be able to carry out major construction projects in very remote areas. Trump, who estimates a cost of $6bn, proposed to fund it either by taxing Mexican illegal immigrants or by directly getting Mexico to pay via gunboat diplomacy threats and sanctions. But then decided that he could get Americans to fund it instead. Of course by 2019 he had changed tack and was planning to have US taxpayers pay for the wall instead, and his base has fallen right in step. Thinking back to rallies he held during his election, one is tempted to re-caption them: TRUMP: Who’s gonna pay for the wall? SUPPORTERS: Mexico!! The wall and its associated security measures would have a significant economic and social impact, by making life harder for the many people who cross the border every day for work, study, leisure, or to visit relatives and friends. And the wall will have serious environmental effects, dividing and damaging animal and plant habitats. On the other hand, if you sell concrete in southern Texas or ladders in northern Mexico, you’re good. It will also allow drug dealers to charge an even more ridiculous markup over production prices and as we all know El Chapo is good at building tunnels, so the big cartels will have no problem getting drugs into the US, while the small mom&pop cartels from across the street are crushed by the big box competition. The wall can be sawed through with tools available at Home Depot by the way, something smugglers have already taken advantage of.[5] Existing border defense[edit] The current US-Mexico border is 1,989 miles (3,201 kilometers). Much of the border is already formed by natural barriers, principally the Rio Grande and Colorado River. There is also an existing barrier which comprises a number of separate walls and fences totalling 580 miles (930 km). This was created as a result of various legislation including Rep Duncan Hunter’s amendment in the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437) and the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (H.R. 6061).[6] The remainder of the border is guarded by patrols and surveillance and the bravery of modern-day Minute Men. Trump’s proposal[edit] “”So, the president of Mexico, yesterday… Or the…
The Great Wall of America – Flickr
The Great Wall of America The border wall between the United States and Mexico is one of my favorite subjects to photograph.
Donald Trump's 'great wall' is a fantasy – CNBC
Donald Trump’s ‘great wall’ is a fantasy that even he knows will never be realPresident Donald Trump speaks while participating in a tour of border wall prototypes.Kevin Lamarque | ReutersDonald Trump sought the presidency on a fantasy: with Mexico’s money, he would build a “great wall” of concrete and steel across America’s southern border.Ever since he won, Trump has obscured his inability to make the fantasy real. Rhetorically, he has fogged the air on whether he seeks a wall or something else, whether he needs money from Congress or not, whether the wall is “desperately needed” or already largely built.The federal government remains shut down because one chamber of Congress no longer will play along. The Paul Ryan-led Republican House shielded the president from political discomfort on his pledge; the Nancy Pelosi-led Democratic House will not.Ryan knew the pledge was irredeemable. When I asked him about it before the 2016 election, he chuckled.Trump knew it, too. Days after his inauguration, he told Mexico’s president of his “political bind, because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to. I’ve been talking about it for a two-year period.”When his counterpart reiterated firm opposition, a leaked transcript of their phone call showed, Trump replied: “But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that, and I cannot live with that.”Resistance extended beyond financing. Influential Republicans, such as Texas Sen. John Cornyn, cast doubt early on about the feasibility and effectiveness of a border-long barrier.By spring 2017, Republicans abandoned a White House demand for $1 billion to begin wall construction. Covering that retreat, Trump called money for replacement of existing barriers a “down payment.”Later, as they pursued shared tax cut goals, Republicans trumpeted Trump’s theme anew. “It is time for The Wall,” Ryan tweeted in August 2017.But it wasn’t time. Though Republicans never explicitly rebuffed the president, the time never came while they controlled both chambers of Congress the last two years.The day Trump became president, fences and other barriers spanned roughly one-third of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Entering his third year, that’s still the case — and now newly empowered Democrats bluntly spurn his wall demands.Trump initially backed away from the fight. Much of the wall “has already been built,” he claimed, with the Pentagon poised to complete it whether Congress furnishes $5 billion for the job or not.Besides, Trump added, “We are not building a concrete wall” but rather “artistically designed steel slats.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, assured of White House support, last month whisked through stop-gap spending legislation without wall money.Then, after conservatives wounded him with accusations of weakness, the president reversed himself. He killed McConnell’s bill and triggered the shutdown.Trump remains vulnerable to embarrassment as his legal and political troubles mount. From the right, Ann Coulter suggested he’d been “scamming voters” with his wall pledge; from the left, Pelosi mocked his willingness to accept “a beaded curtain.”In the politically charged standoff, even the candor of his own top aide made Trump uneasy.”To be honest, it’s not a wall,” outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times. “We left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.”Yet that “solid concrete wall” — as a symbol of impenetrable resolve — gives Trump’s pledge its emotional punch with his supporters. So despite having made…
Trump wall: How much has he actually built? – BBC News
Trump wall: How much has he actually built?By Lucy Rodgers and Dominic BaileyBBC NewsBuilding a “big, beautiful wall” between the US and Mexico was the signature promise of President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. A concrete barrier, he said, would serve to stop what he described as a flow of illegal immigrants and drugs over the border.But what actually happened to the wall? How much of it has been built? And how effective has it been?1. How much ‘new wall’ Trump has built is up for debateAny calculation of the miles of new wall constructed by Mr Trump and his administration depends very much on the definition of the words “new” and “wall”.Before he took office, there were 654 miles (just over 1,000km) of barrier along the southern border – made up of 354 miles of barricades to stop pedestrians and 300 miles of anti-vehicle fencing.Now, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in its 6 October status report, the southern border has 669 miles of “primary barrier” – the first structure people heading from Mexico to the US will encounter – and 65 miles of “secondary barrier” – which usually runs behind the primary structure as a further obstacle.This means that in areas where no barricades existed before, they have built 15 miles of new, primary barrier or “border wall system”, as it is called by CBP.About a further 350 miles of barrier has been built, according to CBP, made up of replacement structures and some new secondary barrier.More is planned, too, with 378 miles of new and replacement barrier either under construction or in the “pre-construction phase”. Less than half of this will be in locations where no barriers currently exist, according to CBP.However, Mr Trump himself doesn’t make a distinction between these new stretches of barrier and replacement structures, regarding both as new wall. This is because, he says, replacements involve “complete demolition and rebuilding of old and worthless barriers”.And he regards the progress made so far as a success.”My administration has done more than any administration in history to secure our southern border,” Mr Trump said in June during a visit to the wall.But what Mr Trump has actually built is far from what he promised at the start of his 2016 election campaign, when he pledged to build a concrete wall along the border’s entire 2,000-mile length. He later clarified that it would cover only half of that. And by the time of his State of the Union address in February this year, his pledge had been reduced to “substantially more than 500 miles” by January 2021.Image source, Getty ImagesMr Trump is still short of that target – even if you include all the new, replacement and secondary barriers erected so far. Yet how much more will be built is uncertain, with Democratic rival presidential candidate Joe Biden saying that, while he would not tear down the barrier Mr Trump has built, he would not expand it further.2. Most of the wall isn’t ‘wall’ at allAs well as scaling back his ambitions for the length of the border barrier, Mr Trump has also changed his view of what constitutes a wall.Throughout his 2016 election campaign, when he described it, he talked about concrete.But once elected, he began referring to a barrier made of steel, which would enable border agents to see through it.And what has been built so far is mostly such steel fencing.Specifically, much of the current wave of construction is 18-30ft (5.4-9m) reinforced bollard fencing, according to a report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.”It poses a formidable barrier, but it is not the high, thick masonry structure that most dictionaries term…