Tag: build the wall

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Donald Trump Now Says Parts Of Mexican Border Wall Were Always Meant To Be “See Through”

Donald Trump used his morning “Executive Time” today on Twitter to assert that he never promised one long solid wall along the U.S./Mexican border, and that parts of the barrier were always meant to be “see through.”

Does anyone remember Trump talking about a “see through” wall on the campaign trail?

This comes a day after White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters that Donald Trump was “uninformed” about the realities of building an actual wall across the U.S./Mexican border from sea to shining sea,

Via CNN:

“The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water,” the President tweeted.

Appearing on Fox News Wednesday evening, Kelly pointed to the border wall as an example of how the President has adjusted his views after being briefed by experts. “He has evolved in the way he’s looked at things,” Kelly said, adding, “Campaign to governing are two different things, and this President has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible.”

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Trump Says “No Deal” With Schumer & Pelosi On DACA Fix

Donald Trump

Just hours after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced they’d reached a deal with President Trump “to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” Trump took to Twitter to deny any such deal.

And apparently “The Wall,” which has seen no legislative action is “already under construction.” but “in the form” of fixing existing structures?

What happened to the “big, beautiful wall?”

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White House Transcripts: Trump Begged Mexican President To Stop Saying Mexico Will Not Pay For “The Wall”

A transcript of newly-elected President Trump’s first phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto shows Trump knew he’d painted himself into a corner campaigning on “The Wall” to be paid for by Mexico.

Trump was most concerned that the Mexican president continued to say his country would not be paying for any wall.

From the Washington Post:

“You cannot say that to the press,” Trump said repeatedly, according to a transcript of the Jan. 27 call obtained by The Washington Post. Trump made clear that he realized the funding would have to come from other sources but threatened to cut off contact if Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto continued to make defiant statements.

The funding “will work out in the formula somehow,” Trump said, adding later that “it will come out in the wash, and that is okay.” But “if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.”

Trump also told with the Mexican president that he won the state of New Hampshire (he didn’t) because “New Hampshire is a drug-infested den.”

That’s an American president denigrating a state to the head of a foreign nation.

The article goes on to chronicle Trump’s heated conversation with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a previous agreement by the U.S. to accept 1,250 economic refugees.

“I hate taking these people,” Trump said. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people” — an apparent reference to U.S. dairy farms.

Turnbull tried to salvage the deal, noting that the detainees were economic refugees who had not been accused of crimes. He explained that they were being denied entry into Australia because of a policy aimed at discouraging human smuggling.

“There is nothing more important in business or politics than a deal is a deal,” Turnbull said. “You can certainly say that it was not a deal that you would have done, but you are going to stick with it.”

Trump only became angrier, saying the refugees could “become the Boston bomber in five years.”

“I think it is a horrible deal, a disgusting deal that I would have never made,” Trump said. “As far as I am concerned, that is enough, Malcolm. I have had it.”

Response from the Twitterverse:

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Trump To Implement 20% Tax On All Imports From Mexico To Pay For Border Wall

President Trump (L), Mexican President Pena Nieto (R)

Now we know how President Trump plans to pay for the border wall he campaigned on so strenuously.

The New York Times reports:

President Trump plans to make Mexico pay for his border wall by imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports into the United States from Mexico, raising billions of dollars that would cover the cost of the new barrier.

The proposal, which Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the president discussed privately with congressional Republicans before giving remarks at a party retreat here, would be a major new economic proposal that could have far-reaching implications for consumers, manufacturers and relations between the two governments.

Mr. Spicer said the 20 percent tax on annual Mexican imports would raise $10 billion a year and would easily pay for a border wall that is estimated to cost between $8 billion and $20 billion. The value of imported goods from Mexico in 2015 was $296 billion. Mr. Spicer said taxing imports is something that 160 other countries already do.

The new tax would be imposed on Mexico as part of a tax overhaul that Mr. Trump intends to pursue with the Republican Congress. Mr. Spicer said the tax initially would apply only to Mexico, but that the president supports imposing a 20 percent tax on all imports.

It seems to me that if this plan goes forward, it’s the American people who will be paying for “the wall” buy having to pay 20% more for imported goods from Mexico.

The Times goes on to say new legislation would have to be crafted to implement such an import tax.

As earlier reported, a planned meeting of the two presidents scheduled for January 31 was cancelled today by the Mexican president. See tweet below from the Mexican president:

UPDATE – The White House is walking running this back now:

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Trump Campaign: Mexico Will Absolutely, Definitely, No-Way-Around-It Pay For “The Wall”

ABC News is reporting that the Trump campaign is holding firm on the promise that, if elected, Donald Trump will build a wall on the southern border of the U.S., and Mexico will absolutely, definitely, no-doubt-about-it pay for it.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said the Republican presidential candidate would deliver on his campaign promise to get Mexico to pay for a border wall and that his position has “never changed.”

“He will build that wall, and he has been consistent on that since day one of his candidacy; he will have Mexico pay for it,” Conway said on ABC’s “This Week.” “His position has never changed, on this side of the border or that side of the border.”