Thread: The first brick hasn’t been set, and Trump’s border wall is already going south

The first brick hasn’t been set, and Trump’s border wall is already going south on him

By Amber Phillips
April 24 at 7:00 AM

Mexico won't pay for it. Democrats hate it. Border-state Republicans don't like it. Congressional Republican leaders would rather not undertake it. There could be an avoidable government shutdown over it.

And yet President Trump's budget director is pushing Congress to spend $1.4 billion to start building his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The political tension could backfire on the president. Trump's insistence on a wall is increasingly doing what some had warned it would do: It's undermining his relationship with Congress, it's putting Republican leaders in a no-win scenario on whether to fund it and it could potentially hinder the president's ability to push other issues and policies.

Here's why:

1. It's building a wall between Trump and his party

“Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border.”

That's Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), whose district spans about 40 percent of the entire southern border, in a statement in January.

Hurd still doesn't support it nor, according to a recent survey of border-state lawmakers by Wall Street Journal, do any lawmakers in Congress who represent constituents on the border. That includes the Senate's No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas.

Trump says his wall will “secure, protect and defend” Americans. But right now, he can't even sell Republican lawmakers whose constituents would ostensibly benefit the most from it.

Pushing wary lawmakers to embrace the wall anyway risks further straining Trump's relationship with his party, both with border lawmakers and with GOP leaders trying to avoid a shutdown next week. Speaking of ...

2. It's threatening a government shutdown

Congress is facing a deadline of midnight Friday to pass a spending bill to keep the government open. Both Democratic and Republican leaders say they are successfully navigating the sinkholes that come with such a spending debate. (Similar political dynamics shut down the government in 2013 and very nearly in 2015.)

Funding Trump's border wall has not been part of that bipartisan plan. It's just too risky a debate to undertake when a government shutdown is on the line: Conservative Republicans are wary of the untold billions it will cost, border-state and basically all Democrats oppose it. That's more than enough opposition to kill any spending bill.

But the Trump administration has a different perspective. April 29 marks the president's 100th day in office, and he badly needs a win. He's looking to score one by getting funding for his centerpiece campaign promise. “We want wall funding,” Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told the Associated Press on Thursday.

It's not clear how Republican leaders can appease their president by funding the wall while avoiding a shutdown. And that impasse is a big reasons budget experts say it's 50/50 the government shuts down next week.

3. It's uniting Democrats

Democrats have their own divisions to deal with. But opposing Trump's wall is a near-perfect rallying cry nearly everyone in their party can get behind. It's just too good of an opportunity to whack Trump and Republicans in Congress.

If Congress funds Trump's wall, Democrats can argue Trump has broken yet another campaign promise by building a wall without getting Mexico to pay for it. (Trump says he eventually will force Mexico's hand.) They can also argue Republicans are raising the deficit and that they're teetering on a shutdown when they control Washington because of this wall.

Perhaps most importantly, Democrats have public opinion on their side.

While popular with his base, Trump's wall has never been that popular with the United States. Fifty-four percent of Americans oppose building a wall along the entire Mexican border, according to CNN exit polling from the 2016 election. (Trump has said he's willing to skip some parts.)

A recent KVUE Austin poll found that in Texas (Trump country), 61 percent oppose his wall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.2e9ca59e6477

While popular with his base, Trump's wall has never been that popular with the United States. Fifty-four percent of Americans oppose building a wall along the entire Mexican border, according to CNN exit polling from the 2016 election. (Trump has said he's willing to skip some parts.)

A recent KVUE Austin poll found that in Texas (Trump country), 61 percent oppose his wall.

I don't see why anyone that WANTS the border secured would oppose the wall. If it's the cost, the government wastes large sums of money all the time. At least the wall is something tangible, something you can see where money is spent. I think a wall would be very effective. I have a 6' fence around my yard and it's quite effective in keeping people out. I just don't see why the majority of people don't want the wall. Most people in this country would never see it.

Trump: Border wall funding could wait until September