Trump Should Just Claim Victory on the Border and Abandon His Foolish Wall David Horsey - The Los Angeles Times
go to original April 12, 2017

It was his sure-fire applause line, one he pulled out of his rhetorical grab bag whenever he saw he was losing the enthusiasm of a crowd: “I will build a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it!” If we are lucky, though, now that he is president, Donald Trump will renege on this, his biggest campaign promise.

He could simply declare victory and say a wall along the border with Mexico is no longer necessary because illegal crossings have diminished to a trickle. Unlike many of Trump’s statements, that would have the added virtue of actually being more or less true. The number of people apprehended by the Border Patrol has dropped by 64% from this time last year, the lowest level in at least 17 years, according to an L.A. Times report.

If he simply says he has fixed the problem, his most ardent admirers will have no objection; first, because they believe anything he says and, second, because most of them already interpreted talk of a wall as hyperbole, an amusing exaggeration that only meant he was going to get tougher on undocumented immigrants. Trump’s detractors, meanwhile, would breathe a sigh of relief because the wall is an insanely expensive absurdity.

It is estimated that building a giant, impervious 1,951-mile-long structure like Trump has proposed could cost as much as $38 billion and suck funding away from far more worthy and vital infrastructure projects. American ranchers and landowners along the border fear the wall would make parts of their property inaccessible. It would certainly make the Rio Grande unreachable from the U.S. side. It would also have the perverse effect of locking in thousands of migrants who might otherwise go back south.

...Here’s an easier plan, Mr. President: Latch onto the latest border crossing numbers and call this a problem solved. Then, basking in your victory, simply allow your beautiful wall to go the way of all pipe dreams.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

Related: Lawsuit Targets Trump's Border Wall, Enforcement Program (Center for Biological Diversity)

Related: 1,470 Economists Urge Trump to Support Immigration (PressTV)

Related: Trump Is About to Approve Design of Wall on US-Mexico Border (Construction.RU)

Related: Trump’s Border Wall May Come Crashing Down Before Construction Even Begins (Sputnik)

Related: Robert Reich: Trump’s 13 Broken Promises (So Far) (RobertReich.org)

Related: ACLU Trolls Trump with First Amendment Billboards Written in Arabic, Spanish and English (The Huffington Post )

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