# Walltalk **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 11, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walltalk/827585 "2019-01-11T11:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 21
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walltalk/827585/21 "2019-01-12T09:12:56Z")
I don’t know if we have enough threads on the _ **WALL** _ yet. I do know that each such thread should have a link to this amazing revelation: > [@The five billion dollar wall](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-billion-dollar-wall/826495/326): > > Of course, there’s also the fact that $5.7 billion is a lot of money for a [mnemonic device.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2019/01/04/where-the-idea-for-donald-trumps-wall-came-from/#55b6211a4415) > [@Forbes.com](#): > > “Inside Trump’s circle, the power of illegal immigration to manipulate popular sentiment was readily apparent, and **his advisers brainstormed methods for keeping their attention-addled boss on message** ,” writes Joshua Green, author of Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising. “They needed a trick, a mnemonic device. In the summer of 2014, they found one that clicked.” > … The concept of the Wall did not click right away with the candidate. “ **Initially, Trump seemed indifferent to the idea** ,” writes Green. “But in January 2015, he tried it out at the Iowa Freedom Summit, a presidential cattle call put on by David Bossie’s group, Citizens United. ‘One of his pledges was, ‘I will build a Wall,’ and **the place just went nuts** ,’ said Nunberg. Warming to the concept, Trump waited a beat and then added a flourish that brought down the house. ‘Nobody,’ he said, ‘builds like Trump.’” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walltalk/827585)._