Obviously no discussion about Trump’s presidency can ever be complete without including that most massive of issues (literally), The Wall. This is the wall that President Trump had promised to build along the U.S.-Mexico border, the cost of which Mexico was going to pay.
First, let us dispense with the most outrageous part of the lie. No… Mexico will not be paying for the construction of the wall.
Now… at an estimated total cost of upwards of $45 billion1, plus yearly maintenance costs of more than $750 million1, the matter of who’s paying the bill is of paramount importance. So… to those who believed Trump’s bluster (yes, correct word) about Mexico paying for his wall, well… what can I say.
Trump and his supporters will roll out the song and dance about Mexico paying through import taxes on products sent across the U.S. border, but in reality it is the consumers who will ultimately pay the price. No matter how you slice and dice it, U.S. taxpayers can expect some sort of economic impact from the cost of the wall.
Did anyone really think Mexico was going to say “Ok… we’ll pay for the wall.”?? Really?
So why such an exorbitant and ill-advised use of public funds to build this wall along the almost 2,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico? To properly address this, we need to look at the need (or lack thereof) for a physical wall itself.
Were we in the Middle Ages, I suppose not only a wall, but a crocodile-filled moat would have been appropriate. But we’re in the 21st century, and border control has advanced just a tad.
Before the conjuring up of Trump’s monstrosity, the U.S.-Mexico border consisted of a series of barriers where, “between the physical barriers, security is provided by a “virtual fence” of sensors, cameras, and other surveillance equipment used to dispatch U.S. Border Patrol agents to suspected migrant crossings1.”
Immigration was controlled, with no crises being experienced by the U.S. bordering states or counties. Even Trump’s warned “migrant caravan invasion” eventually fizzled out into a non-issue with the current border system, without the need for a 2,000-mile wall.
All advanced nations with borders in today’s world are fully aware of border control techniques and utilize these effectively. Nowhere else is there a wall even remotely approaching the “seen-from-space” status the U.S.-Mexico wall might achieve.
So if border control and surveillance technology are available to effectively control illegal immigration… then why is Trump fixated on building a 2,000-mile, $45 billion wall?
Because with Trump, it’s all about the bluster, the ego, the fear-mongering, and the rah-rah patriotic chest-pounding which is how he rallies his supporters into thinking a $45 billion wall is necessary. Forty-five billion dollars that could be used to repair/replace infrastructure. Money that could be used to feed and house the homeless. Money that would be better used during the current pandemic.
Given the economic crush of the pandemic, how does Trump feel about the wall these days?
Here’s a theory. Trump likes to put his name on things. Trump Tower, Trump University, Trump Shuttle, among countless others. So what better monument to his ego than a 2,000-mile wall between the U.S. and Mexico?
Something to consider. Walls can be tunneled under, climbed over, flown over, sailed around, and just plain foiled in the simplest ways.
Bottom line: The Wall was never needed, and is a gross misallocation of public funds. There was never any invasion of migrant criminals poised to overwhelm the country.
But if he must build a wall, may I suggest a wall in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the east of the Lesser Antilles islands. That way hurricanes that develop off the coast of Northwest Africa could be deflected into the open Atlantic.
1 – (“Trump Wall” – Wikipedia)