It must be embarrassing when the course of events nullifies past policy statements. That is apparently what happened to President Biden. Imagine, Biden actually doing a one-eighty and ordering the building of a wall on the southern border. It is not a long wall, but it is a wall.
It was a mainstay in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Building a wall on the southern border was one of President Trump’s signature policies after assuming office. Construction of THE WALL was started, and 452 miles of new wall was completed – initially replacing inadequate barriers and erecting 15 miles of new wall.
During all that time, Biden was a vociferous critic of THE WALL. He opposed it based on cost. He opposed it based on a claim that it would not work in stemming the flow of illegal border crossers. He opposed it as a humanitarian disaster.
Biden was so opposed to THE WALL – Trump’s wall – that he stopped the construction that was already paid for — and let millions of dollars’ worth of wall lie rusting on the ground.
Biden never equivocated on this one. In an NPR interview in August of 2020, Biden said, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration …”
Now Biden is building the wall – and waiving scores of laws that would interfere with the construction. But he still says border walls do not work. In the face of a backlash from his left, Biden now says that he has no choice. Those funds were allocated by Congress – and all his efforts to re-allocate them have failed.
If we believe him, Biden has been spending the past three years trying to defy a constitutional congressional appropriation and simply use the money for his own political agenda. Now that his abuse of power failed, he says he is obligated to build what he claims is a useless wall.
The border crisis has become so bad – and is now hitting hard on the Democrats’ big city strongholds – that he can no longer maintain his open borders policy and simultaneously dodge political damage. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and New York Mayor Eric Adams are both blasting the Biden administration for the immigration chaos that has finally reached their communities. The claim that the border is not open is no longer a viable lie. He had to do something – even against his own desire.
Actually, Biden could do a lot of things that would have significant impact on border security – such as cooperating with local border law enforcement instead of blocking them or blocking caravans before they reach the border by pressuring all the nations along the trail. Instead, he reluctantly builds a few more miles of border as a symbolic gesture. With doing nothing as no longer a workable option, Biden seems to be willing to take some embarrassment rather than take effective measures.
One can only imagine the conversation in the Oval Office when building THE WALL became a decision of the last resort. I am betting that crow was the luncheon special that day.
So, there ‘tis.”