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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Has Willed the Wall Into Existence With His Mind
4:46 P.M.
By Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait
Donald Trump ran for president promising to build a wall on the southern border that Mexico would pay for. For the first two years of his presidency, he focused mostly on priorities congressional Republicans cared about (tax cuts, health care, judicial confirmations) and forgot about the wall. At the end of last year, he suddenly realized he was about to lose control of Congress without getting the wall, and shut down the government in the hope that somehow it would lead to a wall. (It didnt.)
Now President Trump is revealing his fallback plan: pretend he succeeded.
The U.S.-Mexico border runs for nearly 2,000 miles. Early in his campaign, Trump conceded that natural barriers cover half that length. He inherited 654 miles of border fencing, and promised a wall covering a full 654 miles. This would mean upgrading most or all the additional fencing to wall status making it taller, stronger, or wallier and adding another 350 miles or so of new wall.
He has so far added zero to that total. Yet the wall was never a material infrastructure project, but instead a symbol of defiance and order. Trump is clearly signaling a new stage in which he is abandoning its physical manifestations and conjuring it into reality.
In his speech Monday night in El Paso, Trump responded to the familiar chants of build that wall! by assuring the crowd the project was well underway. Now, you really mean finish that wall, because weve built a lot of it. Its finish that wall. We have, he said. The walls being built. Itll continue. Its going at a rapid pace.
Much of the rest of his speech recycled old Trump material bemoaning the lack of a wall and the easy ability of drug traffickers to enter the country. But the shift to the new line was made apparent by the Finish the Wall banners flanking the president.
more
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/trump-finish-the-wall-broken-promise.html
thegoose
(3,115 posts)And fuck the assholes who keep swallowing this shit.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)he simply declared victory and came home. Who knew the difference?
Moostache
(9,897 posts)Self-delusion is his one trait where he truly excels...
"Great" Businessman? He thinks so...
"Greatest" Negotiator? He saw it on "The Apprentice" reruns, must be true...
"Awesome-est" POTUS? Of COURSE he is...
There has never been a more obvious example of the DunningKruger effect, EVAH!!!
shanny
(6,709 posts)And it extends to the whole famdamily. Must be genetic.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Who knew?
imanamerican63
(13,810 posts)former9thward
(32,064 posts)I suspect he has never been to the southern border. This is part of the border near San Diego. I would not call that "fencing". Fencing is a term to make people think it is something like what you would have around your house. If someone does not want to call it a wall go ahead. Most Americans would call it a wall.
TwilightZone
(25,473 posts)The picture near McAllen, for example.
former9thward
(32,064 posts)In the 600 plus miles of border barriers you can find fairly low ranch style fencing, high concrete walls and everything in between. To say there is no wall in that 600 miles is just not true.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Let him declare victory so the country won't go through another shutdown? It feels a little like giving in, but to save the country more pain it may be worth it.
I wonder what Nancy Pelosi would think of that idea.
subterranean
(3,427 posts)He knows he'll never get his wall, at least not the kind he promised. He also knows his followers will accept whatever he says. So he's subtly shifting their reality by telling them that the wall is in fact being built. And sometime before next year's election, he will announce that it's "finished." Voila! Promise kept!