I would pay money to not hear the word wall spoken in the news ever again. I think Trump could raise a lot of money by setting up a gofundme page. “Donate 5 billion dollars for a border wall and you won’t hear me utter another word about the wall.” But of course, that promise would last only until the money was gone.
What Trump is doing now is called bait-and-switch. Trump campaigned on the promise that Mexico would pay for the wall. He got his base excited about a wall. When Mexico said, “Not one peso for a wall,” Trump changed his message. He now wants American taxpayers to pay billions for the wall and then, at a mysterious time known as “later”, Mexico will repay us “in some manner” yet to be determined. That’s like a store advertising a bargain-priced TV but when you get to the store they just happen to be “sold out” of the bargain TVs but they will be happy to show you another, more expensive TV that has more bells and whistles and comes with a new and improved finance plan.
I question if a wall will be effective at keeping illegal immigrants out of the US, given that almost half of illegal immigrants do not enter the country illegally. They enter legally on a visa and then overstay their visa—they don’t leave the US. And I question if a 2000 mile (3200 km) border wall can be built for $5 billion dollars. I’ve seen estimates as high as $70 billion.
As General George S. Patton said, “Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.” A border wall is a type of fixed fortification. But okay, go ahead and build the wall. Just don’t ask me to pay for it, Donald, because I think it’s nothing more than a political boondoggle.
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