Trump breaks #1 promise before he takes office.

This whole fence nonsense will fall apart just like it did with the Bush Administration. We have treaty obligations and a lack of federal land down there.

Good luck seizing private property across the Rio Grande and abrogating the Rio Grande treaty with Mexico that guarantees open access to the river.

 

I truly believe that in four to five years, Donald Trump will look an interviewer in the eye and say "I was never the president."

 

Now this is an interesting question. So my choices for the spending of my tax moneys is either on a 2,000 mile long wall between the US and Mexico or Iran? Perhaps you can explain the either/or?

 

Most probably why so many U.S. ranchers and other residents along the border oppose this boondoggle.

 

Just as a reminder, Trump estimated the cost of his TrumpWall as $6 billion to $20 billion. I am sure you can at least double that estimate.

btw, an NPR article about the challenges of constructing such a wall:

 

Don't worry, Mexico is going to pay us back.

 

Yeah! If FAUX "News" doesn't report it? It just ain't so.

 

Next Trump tweet, at 2:45 a.m. Saturday the 7th of January 2017:

"Sirbaihu not tough enough. No credibility. Mexico doesn't respect the weak. SAD!"

 

I don't consider value destruction to be "Mexico paying." It's not a zero-sum game; if Trump forces companies to make uneconomic decisions and Mexico loses, that doesn't mean the US wins. We've both lost on the stupid Carrier deal and associated chilling effects. We'll both probably lose if he fights Mexico on NAFTA. What Mexico paying for the wall should look like is a transparent and quantifiable cash flow into US coffers from the Mexico government and/or Mexican citizens and businesses. It doesn't have to be direct but it does have to be real cash in our pockets. Taking a pound of flesh is just a stupid rationalization so Trumpists can pretend he's following through.

I do agree about the reporting of CNN though where it tries to make out that reimbursement is a significant break from the promise that Mexico would pay for it. I never understood Trump to be saying they'd pay up front.

I do think this move though is the same little shell game Republicans are playing with Obamacare -- "Let me do this thing you're not going to like, Mr. Taxpayer, because I'm going to make it good later." Making good in this case is getting reimbursed by Mexico, and with Obamacare getting some kind of replacement later that will magically fix healthcare costs. Except anyone with half a brain knows to insist on putting Step 2 in iron-clad writing now before committing to spend billions and before committing to taking away insurance from millions of Americans. But we won't because we're a bunch of numb nuts. So instead we'll spend tens of billions of US taxpayer funds to build a fence and then we'll destroy billions of dollars more in economic value in a trade fight with Mexico so Trump can try to save some face over it. And yall we eat it up. Four years from now I expect to see D&D threads called "Trump got Mexico to pay for the wall" because he forced our neighbor and ally into an economic depression.

 

Trump tweet: 3:17 AM, Saturday 07 Jan 2017:
"Dishonest CF posters viciously misquotate me unfairly. BAD.... Trump Hotel will boycott Mex. national dish--the nacho--until they pay up!"

 

The "pay later" idea is obvious BS. We have gone through our entire history with no wall. Building the wall is not so extremely urgent that we need to start it next month. Avoiding deficit spending on the wall is more urgent. Get the money! That's more urgent.

Already planning deficit spending. . . .

 

You do realize that the money Iran gets isn't payment from the United States, it's Iranian money that they didn't get because of the sanctions.

 

I did go visit the Trump hotel (didn't sleep there, just popped in for a look) near the White House this week. It's pretty nice.

 

Time for the "fiscal conservatives" in congress to act according to their principles. If they actually agree to fund this money pit, they lose all right to criticize Democrat spending habits.

 

In an unsurprising story, Trump still owes $5 Million to workers for unpaid labor done on the hotel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...-tagged-with-5-million-in-unpaid-worker-liens

 

I thought the national dish was the Taco Bowl, available at Trump Tower, "I-love-Latinos"?

 

"fiscal conservatives" make like "value voters" voting for Trump and drop the pretense when there is a Republican in the White House.

 

Democrats likes to spend and tax, GOP likes to spend and not tax.

 

Agreed, I've been pretty disappointed with conservatives who are so quick to drop their Christian values, their free market idealism, and/or (depending on stripe) their fiscal discipline to accommodate a winner.

 

Politics isn't about ideas and beliefs anymore. It's about winning. And probably even more about making sure the other side doesn't win.