Trump's Next Big Trip All But Ensures Border Wall
Sometime after President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Jan. 30, he intends to travel to San Diego to examine prototypes of his proposed border wall, one of the signature proposals of his presidential campaign.
According to Axios, which reported Trump’s plans on Monday, the construction of a wall along the southern border still remains a priority goal for the president — despite immense opposition from Democrats — because of everything it symbolizes.
Axios didn’t name the source it quoted, but the sentiment would be familiar to Trump supporters.
“The wall is bigger than a policy proposal — it’s a symbol,” said the individual, described only as being “close to Trump.”
“Ending chain migration may be more impactful policy, but he understands the power of the wall as a concept and in terms of the way he and his presidency will be perceived and judged.”
Axios’ report coincides with a statement the president made during a cabinet meeting in late December.
“I may be going there very shortly to look at them in their final form,” Trump said at the time, according to The Washington Post, referring to eight border wall prototypes that have been set up along the border outside San Diego.
While this may not seem newsworthy to Trump critics, it’s a bombshell for Trump’s ardent supporters, who voted for him during the 2016 presidential election in part because of his promise to secure the border with a “big and beautiful” wall.
As of early 2018, however, construction on the actual wall had yet to commence due to continued opposition from congressional Democrats.
The White House nevertheless issued a request to Congress last week asking that it “approve $18 billion in funding to finance” the wall, CBS News reported, adding that the wall “would go toward 700 miles of new replacement barriers, expanding the current 654 miles of barrier to nearly 1,000 miles.”
The Democrats responded in their typical fashion, decrying the request and signaling their stubborn refusal to comply with the president’s demands:
In response, Trump made it clear he won’t approve a congressional fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program unless the final bill includes funding for his wall.
Trump rescinded the Obama-era DACA program last year on the basis that, under the Constitution, such sweeping policy must be created legislatively versus by executive fiat.
“The wall is going to happen, or we’re not going to have DACA,” he said over the weekend during a news briefing at Camp David, according to Bloomberg.
This wasn’t the first time he’d made this same threat:
Yet even with these threats in play, Democrats refuse to budge, with Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro vowing over the weekend that “most Democrats” would vote against any DACA fix that also includes funding for the president’s wall, according to Breitbart.
Will the wall ever be funded and built? We just don’t know at this point, though the fact Trump remains committed to building it counts for a lot — and a presidential trip to view the prototypes will underscore that commitment for the whole country to see.
And that makes it a good bet that wall construction is all but assured.
Remember, he’s the same highly underestimated man who managed to win the 2016 election despite so much opposition. If he was able to accomplish that feat, I’m sure he can accomplish this one as well.
H/T Sarah Palin Blog
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