# Donald Trump vs. the US-Mexico border **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 29, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729 "2019-03-29T18:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/41 "2019-03-31T15:45:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The innocent, the desperate and the helpless. Has he ever screwed up in a way that afflicts the comfortable? Trump’s problem is that his incompetence is hurting so many people. Granted a lot of people will be dumb enough to vote for him anyway. But will Trump be able to get the 40% of the votes that he needs to win? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/42 "2019-03-31T16:01:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Trump’s problem is that his incompetence is hurting so many people. … I think Trump’s incompetence also shields him in a way. He has NOT built a wall along our southern border, he has NOT repealed the Affordable Care Act. All he has to do is talk about it like a true con man, string his marks along. Hearing the words is all that matters to a sucker. Just imagine if Obamacare was actually stopped suddenly, and some dumb red hatted asshole in line at a pharmacy finds out that his inurance is gone, and his $8 perscription now costs $80. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/43 "2019-03-31T17:01:13Z")
I’m sure this is a really stupid question, but what does “closing the border” actually mean? I envision that those checkpoints where cars and pedestrians can cross will have big Do Not Enter signs, and the guards who currently check papers will stand ready to prevent anyone from getting through. But that just stops the legal traffic across the border. It doesn’t do jackshit for the illegal traffic, which I thought was the whole point. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/44 "2019-03-31T17:08:45Z")
And you have just thought about this a LOT more than Trump has! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/45 "2019-03-31T17:20:37Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > I’m sure this is a really stupid question, but what does “closing the border” actually mean? > > I envision that those checkpoints where cars and pedestrians can cross will have big Do Not Enter signs, and the guards who currently check papers will stand ready to prevent anyone from getting through. > > But that just stops the legal traffic across the border. It doesn’t do jackshit for the illegal traffic, which I thought was the whole point. And if it did put a damper on illegal traffic, why waste money on a wall? The things stupid people do and say, they make no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/46 "2019-03-31T17:49:39Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > And if it did put a damper on illegal traffic, why waste money on a wall? > … Oh this one’s easy. Trump doesn’t give a shit one way or the other about immigration. Hell, he hires undocumented employees. He wants a wall (monument of accomplishment) with his name on it funded with other people’s money. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/47 "2019-03-31T18:02:24Z")
I don’t see it that way. I see the desire he and his supporters have for this silly wall to be rooted in racism and stupidity. The belief a wall is necessary is based on right-wing racism while the belief a wall would be effective is based on right-wing stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/48 "2019-03-31T18:06:32Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh this one’s easy. Trump doesn’t give a shit one way or the other about immigration. He wants a wall (monument of accomplishment) with his name on it funded with other people’s money. Even more importantly, it will cause the knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing white supremacist troglodytes who support him to express their adoration every time he holds one of his Nazi-style rallies. I see that the Orange Peril is also appealing to the racist troglodytes [by cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras](https://us.cnn.com/2019/03/31/politics/mick-mulvaney-northern-triangle-countries-aid-cnntv/index.html). This of course makes perfect sense: people are fleeing those countries in caravans trying to enter the US in large part because of crushing poverty, so it naturally follows that making them even poorer and more desperate will solve the problem. Either that, or sticking it to brown people is the exciting name of the game here. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/49 "2019-03-31T18:16:01Z")
Trump vs the border? I favor the border; it meanders less. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/50 "2019-03-31T18:22:38Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh this one’s easy. Trump doesn’t give a shit one way or the other about immigration. Hell, he hires undocumented employees. He wants a wall (monument of accomplishment) with his name on it funded with other people’s money. That’s an interesting notion. I’d never seen his insistence on the wall as a permanent monument to his limitless narcissism. It’s clear he himself doesn’t believe it would be effective (he even realized how silly it was live at one of his rallies - “maybe a rope”, remember ?). I thought he kept on pushing it forward regardless as a cynical ploy to be applauded by the deplorables ; or possibly that he wanted it done BECAUSE everybody else opposes it as dumb and wasteful and he wants to demonstrate his power or prove it to himself, insecurity style. But this new notion of yours is intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/51 "2019-03-31T18:23:28Z")
Which of the [three Mexican borders](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-fox-news-three-mexican-countries-20190331-kiwozrqk3vhvpbspgxv7p4zxhe-story.html) does he want to close? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/52 "2019-03-31T18:35:17Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > … > But this new notion of yours is intriguing. Thank you, I appreciate that, but I’m sure others have mentioned it as well. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/53 "2019-03-31T18:37:04Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Which of the [three Mexican borders](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-fox-news-three-mexican-countries-20190331-kiwozrqk3vhvpbspgxv7p4zxhe-story.html) does he want to close? And after those, he’s going after New Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/54 "2019-03-31T18:53:07Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Which of the [three Mexican borders](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-fox-news-three-mexican-countries-20190331-kiwozrqk3vhvpbspgxv7p4zxhe-story.html) does he want to close? Come now, it should be obvious that “Mexican” in the vernacular of the knuckle-dragging troglodyte now means generically “a shithole country containing brown people who need to remain there”. Since they’re pretty much all the same from that standpoint, it’s natural to use the same adjective to describe them all. Fox News viewers couldn’t tell you what the differences are anyway, nor find any of them on a map, including Mexico (many of them couldn’t find the USA on a map). Language evolves, my friend. Words and their meanings don’t stand still! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/55 "2019-03-31T19:47:57Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And after those, he’s going after New Mexico. No wonder [Mexico Beach](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/it-s-pure-hell-hurricane-michael-leaves-housing-crisis_n_5c7cfb54e4b0614614dc5fc2)(city in Florida) still needs a lot of help after the hurricane. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/56 "2019-03-31T20:04:43Z")
The idea is that the people working the ports of entry will be reassigned to “patrol the desert.” Yes, this is really the policy coming out of the POTUS. Not sure what happened to the National Guard presence, and in any case making sense is never the point with these guys. The point is something like, “does it resonate with the racist hatred of many Trump supporters?” That the US would be punching itself in the nuts to the tune of billions in commerce, plus once again look like the dumbest nation on Earth, doesn’t penetrate. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/57 "2019-03-31T20:18:12Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I see that the Orange Peril is also appealing to the racist troglodytes [by cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras](https://us.cnn.com/2019/03/31/politics/mick-mulvaney-northern-triangle-countries-aid-cnntv/index.html). This of course makes perfect sense: people are fleeing those countries in caravans trying to enter the US in large part because of crushing poverty, so it naturally follows that making them even poorer and more desperate will solve the problem. Either that, or sticking it to brown people is the exciting name of the game here. More people turning up at the border = more stress and anxiety in the US over immigration = more support for authoritarian ‘strong man’ solutions = more votes for Trump. I’m afraid that from his point of view, making more people poor and desperate can only be a good thing ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/58 "2019-03-31T20:59:48Z")
That desert patrol thing has a silver lining, maybe. It might make it less tempting to attempt a clandestine hike across the Sonoran Desert. Under the direction of, and at the mercy of, thugs. Maybe beef up those volunteer patrols who go out in the desert to destroy emergency caches of water laid out by illegal alien loving liberals. A positive, sorta kinda. A cherry atop a turd sundae. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/59 "2019-03-31T23:50:20Z")
I guess it’s a cherry? But the majority these days overstay their visas after legally entering via common ports of entry instead of clandestinely crossing the desert. It’s almost, and I know this may be controversial ;), like this is a policy driven by racist stereotypes instead of, ya know, real data. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729/60 "2019-04-01T00:16:41Z")
I don’t want to derail this thread, but I am interested in hearing what other Dopers have to say about what’s happening at the border. The situation doesn’t appear to be improving, and no policy maker seems to be offering any workable solutions. Has there been a thread on this, perhaps in Great Debates? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-vs-the-us-mexico-border/831729.md?page=4)