Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. How? Trump has no authority over Mexican politics. It’s like me demanding that my neighbor pay for my fence so that his dog can’t poop in my yard.
If Trump’s plan is to pay for the wall with tariffs on Mexican goods, it’s the American consumer who will pay for the wall.
I thought at first this thread was going to be a live-streaming of boxing or something…
Trump says lots of things that vanish in a puff of air at soon as the words leave his mouth.
(ETA: Or, when he’s challenged in court. Thanks ACLU!)
Have you checked out this thread yet?
Are you suggesting we need to build a wall around threads about building a wall? If so, who would pay for it? 
The hamsters.
Trump’s current plan is to have the US pay for the wall. He has stated many times that he’d shut down the government if Congress won’t pay for the wall.
Wow! That is exactly the opposite of what he promised on the campaign trail! I sure would feel like a stupid ass if I voted for Trump as a result of what he promised! Golly.
To be fair, Trump could :
Force Congress, via the threat of a shutdown, to pass punitive tariffs against Mexico. In theory these tariffs could total to the 50 billion the wall will cost.
However, economics doesn’t really let you make changes this way in a vacuum. In reality, the U.S. economy would get hit by retaliatory tariffs, and the total financial cost to the U.S. economy would be at least 100 billion, if not a whole bunch more. (high variable but both sides lose in a trade war)
So the simplest and cheapest option is for him to get Congress to pay for the wall. 50 billion isn’t that much money in the grand scheme of things. Problem is the politics of it.
I could see Trump shutting the government down until he gets his wall, though. He kind of has to do it. At this point this looks like the only accomplishment he’s going to make as President. (that, and starting a war with North Korea)
I don’t think you understand how shutdowns work. Shutdowns happen when Congress does not pass the necessary legislation to raise the debt ceiling or to pay for things. Government shutdowns are not popular, and ones for a not very popular wall less so, A clean spending bill with no wall could easily pass. I suspect Congress would be pissed off enough by a Trump veto to override. (Look at Russia sanctions.)
So Trump can’t shut down the government, he can only rant.
The leaked transcript of the call with the Mexican president pretty much took away his credibility about demanding they pay for it anyway.
Trump wants his name on everything and wants everything with his name big and bold. Now he needs a way to sell it to the taxpayers, and having someone else pay for it goes a long way, put a patriotic spin on it and the ‘great great wall’ (Trump’s phrasing to one up China’s Great Wall) gets some real support.
His problem is he didn’t check what that demand would mean in Mexican culture, it is a huge insult to demand such a thing. Big cross cultural Faux Pas.
Also just to add, a wall can be just as effective in keeping people in, then keeping others out.