Trump Has Secret Plan To Steal MORE Money From Troops For WALL
Only no one in the White House can keep a secret, so we all know about it.
Donald Trump has an exciting new plan to pay for his stupid Fuck You Mexico WALL. After negotiating with Congress to end the shutdown in February and accept just $1.4 billion in WALLbux, Trump promptly turned around and declared a state of emergency to justify raiding military construction funds for another $3.6 billion. Now he's pressing Congressional Democrats to "backfill" the money or else they "hate the troops." At which point, he will steal it again!
AND MEXICO WILL PAY FOR IT, LOL.
As a candidate, Trump promised that a wall spanning the entire 2,000-mile border would cost just $12 billion. Turns out, the 500-mile stretch Trump has promised to build before the election will require $18.4 billion for construction alone, and that's before factoring in the cost to seize the land under it by eminent domain. So, the Washington Postreports, "the administration plans to dip into the Pentagon's construction budget for the second consecutive year to get another $3.6 billion, said the officials familiar with the plan." And by "dip in" they mean steal from money Congress has allocated to needed defense projects. Which is how Trump plans to make our military great again, we guess.
When asked by the Post about the September 11 meeting where Jared Kushner (of course!) laid out the plan to raid funds for schools and childcare centers on military bases to pay for Trump's campaign promise, an unnamed (of course!) "senior official" defended it as "a typical project-management meeting where administration officials discussed border wall progress." And who cares if troops are living in moldy barracks and air traffic equipment is at risk stored under "roof leaks from failing asbestos panel roof systems." The important thing is that Donald Trump gets to have a photo op to sign WALL!
President Trump signs border wall during tour in Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California. https: //t.co/dG963bl8vG
— NBC News (@NBC News) 1568848587.0
The Post also points out some ahem irregularities in the process to award construction contracts for WALL. In addition to demands for information about the plan to raid already-allocated defense funds, the House Oversight Committee is asking pointed questions to the Army Corps of Engineers about the government's apparent preference for North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, whose owner Tommy Fisher is a Trump donor and frequent Fox News guest.
Fisher is also the preferred provider for North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, who explained the procurement process to the Post thusly:
"He always brings them up," Cramer said, noting that he spoke with Trump about Fisher twice — once in February and again on Thursday. Each time, Trump said he wanted Fisher to build some of the barrier, Cramer said.
Cramer said Trump likes Fisher because he had seen him on television advocating for his version of the barrier: "He's been very aggressive on TV," Cramer said of the CEO.
"You know who else watches Fox News?" Cramer asked.
No, who is it who watches Fox News fifty hours a day and barrages the country with tweets about it? Gosh, we are at a loss to say.
Cramer has since been unofficially "deputized" by Donald Trump to keep WALL construction moving along at a clip. In that capacity, Cramer demanded that the Army Corps of Engineers hand over information on the confidential bidding process, and now he's finally got it. But don't worry, you guys, he would never share that proprietary information with his pal Tommy Fisher. "I have no plans to share the documents with anyone, depending on what they show, and I don't imagine Fisher would be all that interested."
But, he's just saying, those guys at Fisher put out a hell of a product!
"I don't know if Fisher or anyone else would build a better or less-expensive wall," Cramer told the Washington Post. "When I was in El Paso, I saw a Fisher-built segment and another segment, and the quality from the surface and the technology implemented by Fisher was far superior. I believe it was less expensive as well."
Really, North Dakota? You guys turfed out Heidi Heitkamp for this grasping buffoon?
So, this is all fine. WALL is almost totally built, from sea to shining sea. Promises kept.
Trump: “This wall can’t be climbed. It’s very very hard.” https://t.co/u5V7yPFQUB
— Minh Ngo (@Minh Ngo) 1568955069.0
Bang up job, America. Well done!
Follow Liz (AKA your FDF) on Twitter!
Please click here to keep your Wonkette snarking!
So WALL is "designed to absorb heat"? As in, like, from the sun? I didn't think Dodo liked solar power, because it doesn't work at night. You don't think anyone would, for instance, think to climb WALL at, you know, NIGHT, do you?
He is a fucking monster. Just sayin' it again.