American taxpayers hate waste in government and those politicians who campaign against wasteful use of tax dollars generally do well at election time.
Ex-Senator William Proxmire (D-Wi) made a career out of feigned rage over wasteful spending. For many years, he orchestrated an annual public relations stunt where he would announce a “Golden Fleece Award” for the most disgusting waste of government funds. The gimmic worked: the Senator held office for 32 years.
If Bill Proxmire was alive today, still serving the good citizens of Wisconsin, he would undoubtedly have voiced his disapproval at ex-President Trump’s extravagant waste of money on his “beautiful” border wall that “Mexico is going to pay for”.
I have no doubt that this $15 billion boondoggle would have earned one of Proxmire’s famed Golden Fleece awards.
As we all remember, Trump campaigned in 2016 with a promise to build an “impenetrable” wall that would protect America from an ongoing invasion by Mexican “rapists, drug dealers, and murderers”. It was the centerpiece of his campaign, his genius solution to the illegal immigration problem. (It was also a campaign gimmick, a dog whistle to excite patriotic Americans who believed that Mexicans were the cause of many societal ills.)
A total of 450 miles of Trump’s ballyhooed wall were eventually built along the 1,954-mile border with Mexico, with 400 miles of this new wall replacing border fencing already in place. The Trump wall design featured a heavy-duty metal fencing which was supported by deep concrete footings and rose to a height of 30’. This structure cost an average of $20 million per mile.
Mexico paid for none of it.
Recent information obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection via the Freedom of Information Act reveals that Trump’s “impenetrable” wall was cut/breached 3,272 times in three years by parties unknown (assumed to be Mexican smugglers) using power tools available at local hardware stores. The same source information revealed that many smugglers simply used ladders costing about $5 in materials to scale the expensive security fence. As one reporter said, “The fencing is no match for a $15 hand saw.”
As was pointed out back in 2016 when Trump was proposing his “big, beautiful wall” that was going to solve the illegal immigration problem, most illegal immigration happens at U.S. border vehicle crossings or where Latin American “tourists” simply fly into the United States and then stay there. Trump’s proposed wall would not impact that large mass of intruders, nor would it be economically possible to fence the entire Mexican border. As critics pointed out, any fence can be tunneled under, climbed over, or breached with cutting instruments.
Or, simply walked around, in the 1,500 miles that have never been fenced.
In the end, a total of 54 miles of new border barriers were installed (the rest of the wall was replacement) under the Trump Administration. All of it is, apparently, quite vulnerable. The “problem” that campaigner Trump promised to remedy was not resolved in the least, and American taxpayers shelled out $15 billion.
Donald Trump did not earn reelection, but he is quite worthy of a Golden Fleece Award.
