With two weeks to go until President-Elect Donald Trump moves into the White House and takes up his position as Commander-in-chief, he seems to have already reneged on a number of his campaign promises. From his plan to investigate Hillary Clinton to his pledge to “drain the swamp,” Trump has instead filled his cabinet with a number of (unpopular) Washington “insiders” and dropped the claims that he would lock up Hilary.
Now, Trump seems to be backtracking on his promise to have Mexico pay for his highly controversial border wall between the United States and Mexico. Early on Friday, the President-Elect’s transition team hinted to Republican leaders that Trump plans to fund the project through the congressional appropriations process by this coming April.
Although he has repeatedly claimed that Mexico would pay for the entire cost of the wall, Trump modified his campaign promise in October, suggesting that the American taxpayers would initially foot the bill, and that the United States would be reimbursed by the neighboring country after its completion. When the mainstream media criticized his plan to fund the wall through Congress, Trump jumped to Twitter (as per usual) to defend himself against the “dishonest media”:
The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
In typical Trump fashion, the President-Elect has also been deflecting criticism by virtually beefing with the Arnold Schwarzenegger-hosted television show “The New Celebrity Apprentice”, going so far as referring to himself as “the ratings machine, DJT,” and claiming that he “destroyed” Schwarzenegger. The former actor and California governor responded with a backhanded comment.
“There’s nothing more important than the people’s work, Donald Trump. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings,” Schwarzenegger wrote.
According to New York Rep. Chris Collins, a member of the President-Elect’s transition team, it is true that the American taxpayer will front the bill for the wall, but the congressional representative also expressed full confidence in Trump’s ability to convince Mexico that it’s in their best interest to reimburse the US for the massive construction project.
The Trump team claims that they lack the money to fund the project, despite having authority to build the border wall through a 2006 law. Although Trump feels capable of getting Mexico to pay the country back, the country’s leaders have repeatedly denied they would foot the bill. Trump has estimated the border wall to cost approximately $8 billion, while experts have estimated the cost at around $10 billion.
Trump has mouthed off numerous times regarding how he would get Mexico to pay for the wall, whether it be through imposing tariffs or cutting their foreign aid, the only actual plan thus far seems to be leaving the bill for his close-minded and nationalistic pet project with the American people.
