Anti-Trumpers, mostly Democrats, have mocked Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along our southern border. They have challenged his claim that Mexico would pay for it, and have invoked a bit of semantics with his use of the term “wall.”
The naysayers are now taking him to task over the possible plan for Congress to fund it and have Mexico reimburse the U.S. as if it is a sudden flip flop in the president elect’s plan. He surfaced that possibility in his Nov. 16, 2016 appearance on the CBS program, 60 Minutes.
While Trump has referred to building a wall, he certainly is aware, through his endorsement by the Border Patrol, that the wall would be a fence in some areas and electronically monitored in other areas. He also knows that no physical border can be realistically built where the Rio Grande River forms a natural border between part of Texas and Mexico.
Now the media is attempting to stir controversy between Trump’s homeland security nominee John Kelly and the president elect, over the nominee’s remarks during his Jan. 10, 2017 hearing. Referring to a “layered defense,” Kelly said, “a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job.” While the headlines refer to a Kelly-Trump “disagreement” and “at odds” on the border wall, they are actually in agreement.
One would expect that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who opposes the wall, would ask Kelly for his stance on a wall, yet some will recall that it was McCain who praised Janet Napolitano’s decision to cancel the Boeing virtual fence project that was to be the forerunner of electronic surveillance. I believe McCain will obstruct Trump’s effort to secure the border at every turn.
When all is said and done, I believe our border will be more secure with the combination of a wall, a fence, high tech electronics and perhaps drone surveillance, and Mexico will pay for it … eventually.
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