I have far too much faith in humanity it seems as I remain gobsmacked by last evening’s election in the United States. The idea that I’m forced to reinvestigate the idea of a massive border wall today is as much a surprise to me as the fact that tens of millions of American’s bought into the sheer absurdity of the notion when promised by President-elect Trump (Did I really just type that again?).
Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore on 2011-02-10 12:47:12Are we still talking about Trump’s Mexico Wall?
I began my day with a summation of global markets seemingly in freefall before shifting my writing to the near certain beginning of a global recession. From there, I was afforded a bit of respite from this hell I’ve woken to this morning by writing about the addition of the famed Parkes Radio Telescope joining Breakthrough Listen in its search for intelligent life (God knows it’s largely not to be found in the electorate of the UK or the US so Proxima b isn’t a bad place to start looking) and now I have to write about Trump’s Mexico wall?
Donald Trump entered the race for the Republican nomination by calling many Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “criminals.” From there, he began his promise to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall” between the US and Mexico.
Trump (I can’t bring myself to writing president-elect again as that brought tears on the third go) first suggested the wall would only cost about $4 billion and that, of course, “Mexico would pay for it.” This is nothing short of folly if not outright bullsh*t as the present fence that is by no means impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, nor beautiful cost about $7 billion and clearly doesn’t stop much in the way of the flow of people or contraband. That fence spans a mere 650 miles of the 1,900 miles that constitute the US-Mexico border.
So how in the hell is Trump planning on building a 30-foot, now the 55-foot wall, of 1,000 miles (900 miles of the border is naturally “walled off”) for his re-estimated $10 billion?
The answer quite simply is that he won’t despite claims that, “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I build them very inexpensively.”
Fact-checking Donald Trump is a fool’s errand and the acme of folly given that his supporters didn’t seem to care that he was more full of sh*t than a Christmas goose.
That said, most experts put the cost of this promised wall at closer to $25 billion, and the money is just the beginning of this pipe dream’s problems.
Washington Post looks at Trump’s Mexico Wall
The Washington Post is not the only publication to call bullsh…nonsense on Trump’s wall plans. In a piece for the National Memo, Ali F. Rhuzkan, a New York-based structural engineer put the concrete required at three times the amount used for the Hoover Dam.
On top of this, you have to consider those Mexican cement companies would reap enormous profits and THERE ARE NO BLOODY ROADS TO ACCESS VAST EXPANSES OF THIS PROPOSED WALL.
Have I mentioned the fact that much of this proposed wall would need to be built on private property? That means purchasing the land, forcing residents to give it up in court or leasing it for decades.
There is a 75-mile stretch of this proposed wall that is held in trust by the Tohono O’odham Nation and would require an act of Congress to seize.
The opposition to building a wall over this land is fierce and worthy of its own article but to give you an idea of the resistance….
“Over my dead body will anyone build a wall there. I will personally do whatever is necessary to make sure a wall is not built there,” the Vice-Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, Verlon Jose recently told the Huffington Post in a telephone interview.
I encourage you to have a look at the Washington Post’s in-depth analysis of what this absurdity would require here as we don’t have their resources.
The environment and Trump’s Mexico Wall
Given that Trump has tweeted that climate change is no more than a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, whatever the hell that means, it’s difficult to see Trump caring much about the migratory patterns of animals including the endangered and protected North American jaguar as well as black bears that mate with no regards to national boundaries.
I can’t even be asked to continue this article as it’s truly sickening that so many bought into something that is simply not going to happen.
Trump will likely focus his efforts on a quick round of deportations before moving on to something he is just as ignorant about as we fiddle while the world burns.
