Trump came up with the idea at a rally , just like “his” idea to lock up H. Clinton. The mob liked it and chanted in response. He’s not exactly a leader among conned people but rather is the fool at the head of a juggernaut he started to satisfy his narcissism.
Please just keep repeating the other spontaneous lie that the mob liked: Chump said he’d make Mexico pay for it. Don’t ask Congress for the $$, then.
Why not let the Chinese build the wall they have enough experience.
The Great Wall of Trump is nothing but a boondoggle and con designed to excite his low intelligent moronic cult of followers. The "wall" will not stop illegal immigration. Desperate people always find a way. Consider Cubans crossing 90 miles of shark infested waters in leaking boats, East Germans risking being machine gunned or North Koreans crossing mine fields. We might make the trip more expensive and dangerous, but until we fix the problems that are driving the migration NO wall will stop it. As for drugs; most drugs come through regular crossing and ports either hidden in secret compartments or disguised with legitimate cargo. Again, Trump's wall with do nothing. That is except waste $25 billion and create monument to Trump's stupidity.
When Individual 1, also know as our apprentice President, bankrupts yet another failed venture, who will bail us out? The Russian oligarchs, Saudi's ????????
It is time to hold him accountable on an hourly basis, for every lie he speaks and tweets. He believes if he repeats falsehoods without the facts and consequences, he is winning and pulling the wool over our eyes as he drains our treasury.
No Democrat would get away with these reckless fiscal policies. He is screwing up our stock market, environment, and mental well being. It is time to take him in for a mental examination.
How can the NYT never mention the promise that Mexico would pay for the wall?
I appreciate the update/analysis, but come on.
"President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got nothing" - Actually we got a nuclear deal Iran was complying with in exchange for giving back THEIR money. The $150B is now worth nothing because trump cancelled the agreement without getting the $150 B back. What a trumpian deal!
As a tax payer, I'd be willing to pay for a small section of wall built right on the border, complete with a three more 8ft x 30ft high walls with spikes at the top to create a cell to house trump. The bars, of course, should face Mexico so that immigrants can be welcomed by trump and they can feed him scraps to eat as they walk into the USA. Perhaps they can chip in a few pesos to complete the wall. That's the only way to get Mexico to pay for trump's monument - with a tourist attraction.
In the meantime, it's time for trump's base of voters to lend Mexico $25 Billion to build trump's wall. That's only $396.95 per trump voter. What a deal! The wall should snake only into property owners who voted for trump - see how they like their property seized by their hero. Indeed, will they give up their land for a solution they know will not work?
Since trump has no respect for life on Earth, Musk should send trump to the Red planet - give it a tinge of orange - where no life forms exist as far as we know. Indeed, the dummy in the Tesla should have been the dummy in the WH.
All we need now is for a future German Chancellor to give a speech next to the wall demanding "Trump, tear down this wall!"
And that's not even to mention snail darters or other similar creatures that will pop up in the first shovelful of dirt turned for a wall. There alone is another $5 billion in litigation. China built the Great Wall in a thousand years, so we should shoot for construction of our border wall in about 500 years or so.
What we need are some good policies put in place to create jobs and a decent, safe life in Central America that discourages desperate people from coming here in the first place.
Give no ground to those who would make our country an unwelcoming fortress. Fight the good fight, Mr. Musk. History and morality are on your side.
People always talk about the Republican Party's utter 180s on Defecit Spending, patriotism, taxes, infrastructure spending, etc. Nobody ever talks about the utter 180 on eminent domain. Republicans are the ones who criticized Kelo v City of New London, and they've always been Pro-Property Rights. Now that Trump is President, they're completely willing to seize millions of acres of land, at a cost of millions, and force many farmers off their land. You must be brainwashed or ungodly ignorant if this sounds like Republican policy to you.
1
Trump probably thinks that shutting down the government will shut down Mueller. He and his wall are both idiotic.
How much longer do we have to suffer this fool?
Hopefully Trump will be impeached in 2019 and we can stop hearing his mentally ill comments about something well beyond his comprehension. Trump is a crackpot who should be immediately impeached.
1
Mr. President,
Please choose your favorite golf course. I will raise funds to:
-transport you to the course
- erect a wall around it with you inside
-weld shut the door in the wall
- hire retired border guards to patrol outside
the wall so that you are safe and secure for
the rest of your gold-plated life.
PS By accepting this offer you will be spared having to choose a new chief of staff. What a deal!
1
...and he can cheat even more on his scorecard
These immigrants come to the U.S. primarily to escape problems in their native countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama) which includes a stagnant economy, high levels of crime, political corruption and widespread drug use. There is a legal way to request a green card to enter the U.S., however unlawful mobs entry is not allowed. Shame and disgrace of all these central American countries and their governments who fail to feed their people, to give them medical care, good housing, and jobs.
Sorry that your country does not love you anymore. To find true love you need to find and walk on God’s Holy road which will one day open the gate to His Kingdom in Heaven. The road you are currently walking is man made and will only bring you tears and despair, darkness and regrets.
Easy to criticize these countries, but if you look at the history of all of these countries, you will see that the US was heavily involved with destabilizing their governments and contributed to the resulting wars. Hard to take care of their own when the US decides that it knows better than those countries own voters who should run their country and actively works against them. Remember Iran-Contra? El salvator coups? Honduras coup in 2009? Look up CAFTA-DR and the effects on the agricultural industry in those countries. Don't be deaf and blind to what the US is doing that helped to create these conditions for those at our border.
Most who oppose the wall do not differentiate between illegal/ legal and oppose any effective border control at all.
A wall would be partially symbolic yes, but sends a necessary message; lawlessness, corruption,gangs,coyotes are not welcome period. Come though the front door or not at all.
The open borders,no borders at all, sanctuary cities wing of the Democrat party will do anything to stop any effective border policy... not for humanitarian reasons, but for permanent raw political powerbase a large poor underclass will provide.
@Lane, again I must ask you who in the Democratic party is advocating open borders. No borders at all?
My question to you: Why isn't Mexico paying for it?
According to Trumpian logic, it would be much cheaper to build walls around the warring countries of the middle east than it has been to fight the wars.
If 2000 miles of border wall can be had for $25 billion think of the thousands of miles that we could have built with the trillions of dollars we spent, and continue spending, fighting those wars.
Not saying I support the wall but US tax revenue is over 4 Trillion Dollars.... a $5 Billion border wall is >0.1% of tax revenue. We HAVE given more money to worse causes. Really its not about the cost of the wall or the disruption to landholders, it is about preventing a critical campaign promise of president Trump and how that might make him look at reelection time. I know many readers here believe that shutting down the government will hurt Trump but I believe that as long as he says "you voted for this America and I am giving it to you".... he will win and benefit from it even if he has to keep the .gov closed for months.
@Tom, what?? It's NOT about the cost? NOT about the private property rights?
It's about trump not being embarrassed?? What?
OK, look. His promise was to build the big beautiful wall, and promised Mexico would pay for it. Over and over, while you chanted like cult members "Who's going to pay for it? MEXICO!!! YAAAAAAAAAY!"
Why do you put taxpayers on the hook for this just so trump can save face? You are not holding him to his promise, you hypocrite. You are explaining to us why we shouldn't hurt trump.
We DID NOT vote for this, and we DO NOT want him to give us the wall, and then tell us to pay for it.
Trump followers: YOU PONY UP FOR THE WALL. Don't tell us Mexico will pay (Trump promised!) then tell us we're traitors if we object. You wanted ZERO taxes imposed on you by Democrats, but you happily lapped up the increased taxes for Bush's unfunded wars. Where are your brains? Your American values?
If trump shuts down the government because he doesn't get the wall money he wants, it astounds me that his supporters won't hold him accountable. I mean.....you never forget that President Obama said something once about keeping your doctor, and you will never stop reminding everyone,the horror of a president who (sob!) misled you forever!
Pay for your own dang wall, hypocrites!
Today's President of the United States does not seem to understand the geographic location of his country and the history that explains what the United States is today. North America is part of the Western Hemisphere, known since 1492 as the New World. The USA shares territory with all the countries that surround it. People inhabit the territory, people, who, for the most part immigrated from the Old World, the rest of the world. The President is also one of those people who immigrated from somewhere else in the world. Yes, Europeans brought to the New World the concept of nation state. But the nation state is conditioned by the natural facts of space, air, land, seas, living species, and People. This is the reason why in the New World the place of birth determines citizenship. It is not ancestry but land, the birthland. So the question may be raised: Why are there so many Hispanic people in the United States? The answer, simply, because people occupy the space where they live and work. People choose lands where they may do so, neighboring lands come first. Do not forget that US citizens have moved their assets, lives and work to neighboring lands, too. The presence of the US in the rest of the continent is evident everywhere. Properties, businesses, airports, religions, people, culture, etc., etc. made and born in the US are everywhere in the Western Hemisphere. The idea of separating with a wall what has been united for a long time is, simply, absurd.
2
1) Certainly the border wall will be effective. As effective as the Maginot Line.
2) Since the wall will be entirely in the United States, and there will be some American land (at least one foot) on the Mexican side, if a person arrives on American land south of the wall and claims asylum, that person will have arrived in the United States and have a valid claim.
One presumes that the law would then require Customs and Border Patrol to retrieve the person and bring him / her across the wall to the U.S. for processing!
1
The wall will not be built.
It's time to just give up and fire the border patrol, immigration and TSA. Let's just save the money and have no policy at all. All the past policies have been useless. I'm all for doing away with drivers licenses or any birth certificate. There is no middle ground so let's just save the money.
The wall folly if built will cause severe environmental damage while hurting landowners and companies like Space X. Just because the POTUS is acting like a spoiled 5 year old does not mean we should build the wall.
1
You talk about government land grabs out west and you've suddenly found bipartisan ground. Leave me my public lands and I won't touch your private lands. Suddenly, progressives and libertarians unite. Trump is attacking both with extreme prejudice.
Trump already lost his wall. He just won't admit it yet. Five billion dollars is peanuts in the federal budget. The principle is priceless though. Land owners should tell Trump to go back to New York. No one wants him here. New York doesn't want him either.
I used to teach English Literature in secondary school, and Robert Frost's poem Mending Wall was one I liked to have the students read, and share then what they understood about aspects of the poem. The poem contains the line, Good fences make good neighbours. That the poem contains that line is not to say it endorses that point of view. In fact Frost makes clear in the poem that he entirely disagrees with that saying, and likens the neighbour who utters those words to "an old stone savage" who "moves in darkness as it seems to me..." At the beginning of the poem Frost says "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" and it is pretty simple to work out what the answer is: frost. It is his own playful way of teasing us with what he is trying to convey: he wants us to work it out for ourselves, he doesn't want to have to make it explicit, as that takes away some of the fun.
I would always ask my students if Frost meant that line, about good fences making good neighbours. Again and again they misread the poem, and said that yes, that was what they felt the poet was saying. I mention it as the author of the article seems to have misunderstood Frost too. I could be mistaken. But one thing is certain: if President Trump ever read Mending Wall by Robert Frost, he did not understand it. And that is a pity, to say the least.
4
of course, a physical wall poses no real impediment to invasion or immigration - just ask the Chinese.
but as a big, beautiful symbol, a wall is a useful rallying cry for President Trump. he's got a small army of red hatted followers just drooling to see a wall go up because, like a gaudy manequin of Santa Claus, it will make them feel good (or, perhaps, less bad). and now, its real value materializes: Trump insisted during the campaign that Mexico, following no discernable reasoning, would pay for his wall, but now he is insisting just as loudly that we Americans pay for it, and threatens to shut down the government for Christmas, proudly, if Congress doesn't come up with the loot pronto. so, as the vice of the Mueller investigation, pending Congressional investigations, NY State criminal cases, and the legal troubles of his key henchmen tightens around him, Trump prepares to use "wall funding" to shut down the government as a tactic in his own defense, perhaps using the ocassion to declare martial law or declare himself caesar just in time for a beautiful New Years party at Mar-a-Lago.
3
The wall is a 15 Century solution to a 21 Century problem. Illegal immigrants make up about 3% of the population and that the vast majority of illegal immigrants FLY here and overstay their tourist visas. Are we going to shut down airports or build a wall around them?
6
Let us instead build a 30-foot wall of solid concrete around the White House, electronically jam all cell phone signals into and out of the enclosure, and then go about the business of keeping America great, without interference from the fount of ignorance.
9
I live in McAllen, Texas and hike regularly at the wildlife refuges. We are under a central bird and butterfly migration route, and the refuges, along with the ecotourism they bring, are one of our only sources of beauty and natural respite, as the Rio Grande Valley is a place where the orange groves and natural areas have been largely replaced by strip malls and junk (mainly due to NAFTA).
The refuges also contain the only remnants of the Rio Grande Valley's pre-industrial scrub forest, and offer habitat for the endangered ocelot, as well as resting area for migrating birds and butterflies (including monarchs).
Our area (and Space X) is also under threat from proposals to build a few LNG export plants in Brownsville, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, which would disrupt wetlands, beaches, ocelots, birds, turtles, and the health of our citizens. (And one can only imagine how a failed rocket launch and an LNG plant would interact.)
The wall should not be built, and people down here mostly do not want it.
Please let your people in Congress know that these threats to our border matter.
41
@jabber. My family is from Donna, Texas, very close to this area and the border. This wall is a HUGE MISTAKE. Most Valley families believe this. Just look at Israel and all of the tunnels they keep finding (not to mention the use tech advances such as drones) which render a wall ineffective for its perceived purpose, a huge waste of money, environmentally ruinous, and a hardship to local farm families.
3
just "build it and they will stop coming."
$5 billion is not a large amount for this!
However, the reported delays on small sections is appalling. Get it done.
1
It is interesting that Trump ignores that indeed most Democrats are not against adding new sections of walls and other deterrents, when it makes sense.
And it looks like more "new" walls were built when Obama was president than what Trump has been able to do.
4
A wall of any kind is anti-environment. Our Country was built on the immigration of people across the globe. The only fence we should build, is around the prison holding our current president. A lawless, soon to be felon.
9
Some will dislike me for saying this, but I hope Trump is stupid enough and brazen enough to shut down the government.
The harsh reality for him is that most of the funding bills have already been signed. Leaving DHS as the hardest hit by a shut down.
Vets might be inconvenienced by a few days, and I am one, but it is unlikely to last more than one or two and our checks for January are already to batch and send through.
Social Security is protected so the most needy relying on it won't be harmed.
Shutting the government down will only irritate and inconvenience government workers and most of them will be in Border Patrol and other DHS operational departments. He will literally create a crisis that works against his how racist and xenophobic agenda.
so go ahead trump, shut it down for wall no one but you and the haters actually want.
9
I have always said that, ironically, the best way to end all discussion about the ridiculous Trump Wall is to actually begin working on it. The reality of a huge government project happening in deep-red Texas, including the need to seize massive amounts of privately owned property, should put an end to this.
8
Most Texans oppose the wall in favor of changes to immigration policy and better enforcement. They are experienced enough with border issues to know that a wall won’t work.
2
$25 billion for a border wall of dubious value is money ill spent. First, we need a comprehensive reform of our immigration policies. Morally, the plight of dreamers should be addressed: give them green cards. Next on my list is H1B visas, allowing hoteliers like the POTUS to import cheap labor, when they are not just using undocumented workers, as per a recent Times article. I can imagine that there are some very talented academics and engineers whose skills are needed by our country but this program seems to be designed to keep wages low in both unskilled and professional work.
That kind of money is just a fraction of what this country needs in economically productive infrastructure: bridges, railroad improvements, mass transit and airport upgrades. Unfortunately, POTUS seems to want to sell off infrastructure to private industry, who will want turn public goods into profit centers.
Nancy Pelosi did a good job of demolishing all the mendacity of the POTUS on this boondoggle of a wall.
6
Twenty-five billion dollars for a 30 foot high wall stretching over 2,000 miles.
A 40-foot ladder costs $450 dollars at home depot.
Can Republicans do math?
13
considering their skill at gerrymandering districts and gaming the Electoral College, I think the GOP is very good at math.
meanwhile, all this brouhaha about a wall and the land it would stand on is a windfall for lawyers in Texas, where there is no state income tax and federal income tax on very high earners has recently been slashed.
let the good times roll and let Mexico pay for it.
MAGA
Who knew that proposing a useless vain self glorifying overpriced structure could be so difficult?
7
Wall Man vs. Rocket Man.
"Nice space station, Mr. President. It would be a shame if the astronauts ran out of food."
1
So, Trump is threatening to shut down our government because he wants to build a 30 ft. wall at a total cost of $25 billion that most people don't want, including Democrats, Republicans, and border landowners, 82 of whom have decade old lawsuits pending against prior border wall plans. This wall, by all accounts, would be a waste of money and, compared to other technology and plans, ineffective. And whatever happened to his promise that Mexico would pay for the wall? Yep, that's Trump. Lots of chaos and money and false promises and dysfunctional government.
127
@PA Resident - Can you imagine what $25 billion would do for our education system? Or roads and bridges? Or an effort to combat hunger in this country?
16
@AR in NC ~
It appears that while Trump is President, that will all be only an imagination.
8
@PA Resident. Imagine how much money we can save by getting rid of immigration, TSA, and the border patrol. Everybody has complained, sued and fought over immigration for the past 50 years. I just got done with that joke of a bureau of motor vehicles with the smog test and inspection. Let's do away with drivers licenses, voter registration, and social security. It's all a waste of money. Better to do nothing than try anything in america.
I’d like to know how those talks with Mexico are going about how they’re going to be paying for the wall. Any progress on that Mr. Trump? [crickets] This question needs to be asked at every opportunity, not how is Congress coming up with $25 billion. Trump campaigned on Mexico paying for it, keep that front and center.
87
DPaielli,
One thousand percent agreed: to say that Trump campaigned on building a wall is only half true. His campaign promise was to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, yet that’s never reported these days. Why doesn’t he just take out a mortgage on some of his assets and loan us the money—construction could start right away!
21
@Greg Waradzin - Because he couldn't get the financing on anything he owns.
27
he could always get it from the Russians.
3
For once the ornery and stubborn Texas spirit may be put to good use. This wall on the Texas border is a solution in search of a problem. Before any additional section of wall is built, there needs to a specific tally of numbers of people who cross there or have crossed there without being apprehended. The Border Patrol has checkpoints along any roads near the border in these desolate and scenic areas, and there is no reason to believe the wall would be anything but an ugly blight serving no purpose. The Mexican side of the border in these areas is very sparsely populated.
43
Although I agree with your initial statement, I object to your description of the border as desolate and sparsely populated. The Rio Grande Valley in particular is actually pretty lush and home to millions of people on both sides of the border.
5
@Molly O'Neal, in addition to which, a wall will disrupt the migration of wildlife and endanger delegate ecosystems along the river. The river shifts location regularly, so a wall in Texas this year could very well be in Mexico in the future, or disrupted in its natural flow by the obstruction of a wall. People in this part of Texas do not believe a wall is needed. They know drones, electronic sensors, airplane patrols and agents are the actual resources needed. A wall is a total waste of money.
11
@Steve
It's only 1.3 million according to the census numbers.
2
What we need is a well-conceived, modern, comprehensive plan for the National security of our roads, airports, stations, utilities, food and water supplies, and borders. We also need a foolproof cyber security system. A wall is not only unnecessary, it is a shortsighted waste of money and time. Trump doesn’t understand the problem snd his solution is nothing more than a self-serving sound bite. Don’t fall for it. We need a comprehensive plan. That’s where our dollars must go. We’ve already wasted too much time.
72
@Zane - Let's not confuse Trump's desire for a wall with his desire for 'security.' For Trump, the wall would be a trophy - proof to his adoring throng that he will give them what he promised and a lasting monument to his presidency. I'm sure that if the wall will ever exist that he'll want to emblazon 'TRUMP' across it in bold gold letters.
And let's not forget that he also promised (many times) that Mexico will pay for the wall. Why haven't we heard that from his lying mouth lately?
2
Our borders need some physical protection. However, walls carry a strong symbolism of oppression. If be build Trump's wall we would join Israel, the former East Germany, and the Korean peninsula with their tortured histories of trying to keep people in or out. But let's not be hypocritical. If we appropriate money to build a wall, then those monies should include funds to take down the Statue of Liberty, inscribed with "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . . ."
41
@Steve Fielding
Yes, take that outdated, misrepresentation of what America stands for down.
@Steve Fielding - Israel's wall is not built for oppression. It is to keep out terrorists who have killed hundreds of Israelis.
@Steve Fielding BRAVO!!!!
1
And why don't we bring up lying Trump's other big campaign promise. That Mexico will pay for this stupid wall.
That's exactly why the new Democratic Congress should refuse to even discuss funds for Trump's fake wall and tell the "art of the fool" moron to go get the money himself from Mexico.
What joke, unfortunately we, my fellow Americans, continue to be the butt of it.
8
Prosecute the employers and illegal immigration will all but stop.
3
Walls do not work and please do not bring up the Israeli wall as the long view of history will prove it a fallacy as well.
During the Reagan Era of the Cold War I served in the US Army at VII Corps as a Signal Corps photographer (MOS 84B back in the day) and saw the wall/fence built by the East Germans, Czechs and Soviets to supposedly keep western aggression out of the Communist paradise of the Warsaw Pact. It was similar in some ways to the Berlin Wall that is more famous, but followed the border. Despite the claims, it was to make those unfortunate enough to live on the wrong side prisoners in their own countries, communities and homes.
Where once there were Soldiers, Border Police and every kind of weapon placed at the "enemy", today there is mostly nothing save for a few sections kept as a reminder. The tiny hamlet of Mödlareuth was actually split in two.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5505301/German-town-M-dlareuth-split-East-West.html
The wall did not work. The Warsaw Pact disbanded, Germany reunited, the EU came to fruition and the Schengen Zone has taken what was once the front line of possible Nuclear War and turned it into nothing of consequence. You could put a lawn chair on the very spot today and read the NY Times and not be bothered.
There are better and less expensive ways to control illegal migration and smuggling. It is almost 2019 and we should start acting like it.
14
Doesn't it just make a lot more sense to support President Musk's Global Citizen without Walls ambition than to continue to act-as-if Trump, the selfie without a Nation, can claim some monopoly of monopolies wherever his/her motivations slither?
The use of a Question Mark is my radical vision of a Humanity with Human Rights which cannot be infringed. The more we examine the vicissitudes of religious organizations, the more we appreciate the evolution of life as a miracle continuing to happen.
The more argument attempts to explicate the Texas personality the more we should appreciate the similarities between the greenback dollar and the peso down Mexico way. BTW, try that chick pea chili which is more onion and hardly jalapeño chili at all.
I think you'll like it, campanera.
3
The Wall, a fantasy. A childlike solution for a complex problem. trump has lived in a walled environment his whole life, inaccessible to the average Jane or Joe. So, he sees Mexicans in the same light.
The real world is difficult for his limited foresight to negotiate. Cozying up to dictators is another infantile solution for maintaining peace in the world. But in the real world, Kim Jung Un continues to build missle sites . The Chinese continue to hack massive databases. The Russian and the Saudis laugh in trump’s face at the G-20.
The man lives in a fantasy world, where he thinks he can get away with his every whim. Small mind, gargantuan ego.
16
Do you lock your doors at home at night ?
Do you keep your money in the bank or in the middle of your kitchen table ?
Do you lock your car doors ?
How about those credit cards ?
Why wouldn't you lock the border ?
2
In an age of technology, with drones, infra red scanners, heat sensors, night vision, and other military tools not know to the civilian population, we are asked to fund a medieval barrier.
Heck, why. It add a mote filled with alligators.
We all want security.
We all want safety.
What happened to “extreme vetting”.
Why not analyze and present boarder control and monitoring procedures that use state of the art equipment.
Think of all the tunnels that were dug to funnel drugs into our nation.
Shiny objects, big stone, steel, brick object are easily penetrated.
Think smart!!!
8
@Tom ,Retired Florida Junkman would you lock your house with a fence only? People can climb over it or dig under it or even go around it. Did you forget about the ocean? There are already miles of tunnels under the border. So no the fence doesn't lock the country.
13
@Tom ,Retired Florida Junkman That comparison doesn't work. The United States isn't personal property, and the environmental repercussions of a border wall would be terrible.
10
Except for the fact that "the Wall" is being promoted by the President of the United States (!), this topic isn't worth the ink (or the kilobytes) it takes to write the article.
The Wall has been and always will be a gimmick used by Trump to stir up reactionary and xenophobic voters, sadly a gimmick used to great effect. Any thinking person can see that it is utterly ridiculous. I wonder if even Trump knows it's ridiculous, while with the expertise of a true flim-flam man he is able to persuade his voters that he's serious.
41
Animal migration.
Stop this heinous wall.
35
A perfect symbol of Trumpian absurdity. The wall has become a metaphor, a piece of manhood that can't get erected. And it will plow through the ultimate in phallic imagery, a rocket launching facility, and delay scientific payloads.
The Mexicans who would pay for it laugh, the Texans who vote for Trump wonder, the do-nothing Republican Congress is confused. Trump believed that a President could snap his fingers and make things happen. Yet of all the subjects to be ignorant about, land ownership? Isn't that the Trump organization's thing?
Oh, I forgot. It's tax evasion.
48
Good for Elon. Stop government if you don't get your way? You sound like a third-grader, Mr. president. Are you going to get your due criticisms for taking food off our military family tables when you 'stop government' the way that the republican'ts accused democrats of doing at the last budget impasse??
4
Americans fighting Americans. What else is new?
2
Wait a minute. Why is the border wall not ON the border? Are we really going to slice off some of our territory? What is the jurisdiction between the two? If an expectant mother crosses the border but not the wall is the newborn American?
16
The Great Wall of Trump. Didn't work in China, why does he think it will here?
12
The border wall is a mirage. Trump can’t drop it; it’s an albatross he stuck himself with. But he knows it’s symbolic, not a real plan.
12
Trump won't even need a wall if he succeeds in his plans to degrade the environment, impoverish the middle class, get us into wars with Russia and China, and establish autocratic Republican rule in Washington and in all the 50 states.
Who will want to come here?
18
Trump's promise to build "a beautiful wall" was, is, and will be a hollow promise. It is fundamentally a useless piece of construction that will do little to stanch the flow, which BTW, has slowed down in the recent past. Moreover, it will be mired in problems of acquiring the rights to build from private owners. And, it is too expensive, that is unless Mexico will be paying for it!!! Any? luck with that Mr. President???
29
The only wall that should be built should be the one around Trump. Also, his comment about the $150 billion to Iran shows his lack of knowledge. The $150 billion was Iranian money seized in the USA not taxpayer money.
Trump is a third rate huckster who has destroyed the Republican Party and is in the process of destroying the foundation of America.
99
The REAL WALL! is the one around Trump’s supporters’ delusional world, a barrier to keep out facts, reality, and science.
88
The US has a massive budget, we spend money on everything, willet nilly. Now is the time to secure the border, we have all seen the video's of a marauding group of mercenaries camped out on the border. Desperate, hopeless people with nothing to lose, therfore they are potentially dangerous.
The news videos show primarily young men with a sprinkling of women and children.
There will always be poor people longing for a better life, we all want a better life for ourselves and our children. However, the nations these folks are running from also have opportunity , the oppourtunity of improvement and fulfillment of their dreams, the imagination is missing. The self determination they need is missing due to inept leadership of the Central American nations.
This is an oppourtunity for the UN to get involved, to help foster a series of educational and industrial projects designed to steer these impoverished countries into the future and thus mitigate the migration pressures we see manifesting themselves.
9
hey tom.
there are millions of desperate, hopeless, and potentially dangerous people in the Republican party.
let's build a wall around them first. they are already in the country.
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@Tom ,Retired Florida Junkman
Tom, I don't know your ancestry, but its highly likely that your folks came to this country longing for a better life, more opportunity, and the fulfillment of their dreams. I wonder if they faced someone at the border telling them to "Go home where you belong!"
The vast majority of us are not "from here." And those who are - well, we've destroyed their culture, their values, and their environment. Perhaps all this anti-immigrant thing is just projected guilt on our part. We fear the new immigrants will do to us what our ancestors did to Native Americans, the ones who truly are the First Nation.
Why should the UN get involved? These people are our neighbors. Your suggestion just kicks the can down the road. Let Christ be our guide here and treat our neighbor as our self. That doesn't mean opening the floodgates but it most certainly means looking at our own actions, our own motivations, and simply being KIND to those who, through no fault of their own, have found their lives intolerable where they are and have been forced to walk through the darkness, through the valley of death, with their children, to find a better place.
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@Amy Haible
Amy, I appreciate your sincerity, I also applaud your Christianity. Christ said "The poor you will always have with you". I appreciate that and have steadfastly maintained that the folks attempting to come here for a better life can find happiness and security by improving the countries they were born in as opposed to draining those countries of their future. " Don’t try to become happier then happy.
Enjoy being happy".
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