On Friday the Texas Tribune reported Low Energy Greg is still trying to get a wall built between Mexico and Texas. He’ll get two miles for $25 million, and while the story isn’t totally clear on the point, it seems that, because this stretch of the border abuts a state highway, this “wall” is actually a repurposed design for a concrete highway median barrier and the funds to pay for the labor and materials are coming out of the Texas Department of Transportation’s budget.
The plan is stupid, and a waste of taxpayer resources on MAGA bullshit, but “creative” in its own way. Not being the federal government, and unable to print money to pay for such a major project, Abbott’s Texas government is forced to rely on what resources they have – and donations from the public – to try to press forward and get the job done. Shoes on the other feet, if this were a Blue State circa 2018 getting screwed by Trump out of a legitimately necessary public works project and that governor made similar moves to get it done, we’d laud the creativity here.
That sort of imagination was sorely missing from Trump’s failed quest to get a border wall built. Yes he did take money meant for military housing to improve existing sections of border barriers, but by then it was already two years into his presidency and hardly any real progress was made afterward. Trump failed his fans who were desperate to feel secure from the demographic tide rising against them. Not that it would’ve actually helped, but they would’ve still felt better.
Trump never got actually creative with it. In my opinion (and I don’t endorse any physical wall, but I’m going to armchair quarterback this as if I did), Trump should’ve killed two birds with one stone: Taken his unemployed former working joe fans whose jobs got dun taken by them Mexicans, bussed them down to the border, handed them shovels, concertina wire, cinder blocks, HESCO units, and paid them $20 an hour to build whatever the hell they wanted. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was a complete mess – an incongruous, confusing network of ditches and piles of dirt covered in razor wire would probably be just as effective – if not more – of a barrier than his metal fences that were defeated by Sawzalls and heavy winds. A modern Works Progress Administration for listless West Virginians and Ohioans otherwise sitting around waiting to die from opioid addiction wouldn’t have been too hard of a sell to Democrats circa 2017.
Admittedly this plan is wacky, but is it any wackier than acting like Mexico was going to pay for a fucking 1,955 mile 30 foot high concrete barrier? Trump got elected in part because of that nonsense and he didn’t follow through. It’s one thing for us non-fanboys to complain about the shitty things he did – the corruption, the racism, the evil – but what about the things he didn’t do for his fans? Not that most of them would ever realize it, but Trump kind of fucking sucked for Trump fans. He really delivered pretty much nothing for them.