Beto gave a fine speech in El Paso. However, his idea of tearing down the wall will likely disqualifying him from winning the nomination or the election, should he win the nomination.
"Tear down this wall" just won't work as a political slogan in 2020. The Democrats do and should stand for border security. A couple of hundred miles of wall over the entire border may or may not help the security effort. All agree that physical barriers can be PART of the solution. Democrats voted for barriers in 2006, during the Obama administration and in the recent law (55 miles as designated by Congress). Trump wants 234 miles, perhaps at different locations, perhaps of different construction. Trump has rightly said to stop all this nonsense and just call all physical barriers "the wall".
The Democratic argument is that we have enough physical barriers and only Congress should decide where the 55 miles should be built and of what construction. Their position is that it is immoral to build barriers anywhere else. Some would tear down what is already built. Trump believes that an additional 179 miles are needed, with design and location TBD. This is NOT a winning argument for Democrats.
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The BOTTOM LINE is that Trump will not be able to come close to spending all the money already available before the election. The 3.6B or construction money is just a means to keep the issue in the press. New barriers using last year's money is just starting to be completed. Congress allocated over $1B for 55 miles of new wall. Trump can use over $3B of drug interdiction and confiscated monies without he need of any congressional approval. Trump may not have his $5.7B, but it's close.
In September and October of 2020, Trump will have lots of wall to point to, and lots of "victories" to point to also. And there can be real arguments about next steps.
"Tear down this wall" just won't work as a political slogan in 2020. The Democrats do and should stand for border security. A couple of hundred miles of wall over the entire border may or may not help the security effort. All agree that physical barriers can be PART of the solution. Democrats voted for barriers in 2006, during the Obama administration and in the recent law (55 miles as designated by Congress). Trump wants 234 miles, perhaps at different locations, perhaps of different construction. Trump has rightly said to stop all this nonsense and just call all physical barriers "the wall".
The Democratic argument is that we have enough physical barriers and only Congress should decide where the 55 miles should be built and of what construction. Their position is that it is immoral to build barriers anywhere else. Some would tear down what is already built. Trump believes that an additional 179 miles are needed, with design and location TBD. This is NOT a winning argument for Democrats.
===========
The BOTTOM LINE is that Trump will not be able to come close to spending all the money already available before the election. The 3.6B or construction money is just a means to keep the issue in the press. New barriers using last year's money is just starting to be completed. Congress allocated over $1B for 55 miles of new wall. Trump can use over $3B of drug interdiction and confiscated monies without he need of any congressional approval. Trump may not have his $5.7B, but it's close.
In September and October of 2020, Trump will have lots of wall to point to, and lots of "victories" to point to also. And there can be real arguments about next steps.