As virtually all Americans are aware of, the fight over President Trump’s promised border wall is not subsiding anytime soon. As a matter of fact, the fight may just be in the beginning stages. House Democrats are refusing to cooperate or even compromise with the president on the wall. As a matter of fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already declared that none of the prospective legislation to keep the government open after February 15th will contain funding for the border wall.
The increasingly ugly fight over the border wall has raised new questions about why the Trump administration did not get it built during the first two years in office. This is where former House Speaker Paul Ryan comes into the equation.
Paul Ryan’s Impact on the Southern Border Wall
As many Americans are aware of, Republicans controlled the government during the first two years of President Trump’s first term. Therefore, it doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable to ask why the wall wasn’t taken care of during this time; however, the president provided answers to the aforementioned question during an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
In essence, the former House Speaker communicated to President Trump that he would garner the capital needed for the border wall. Because of this, the commander-in-chief signed the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, a piece of legislation which he originally wished to reject. When Trump signed the bill, he did so with the belief that Ryan would follow through on his word. President Trump explained this in the following excerpt:
“Paul told me in the strongest of terms that, ‘please sign this and if you sign this we will get you that wall.’ Which is desperately needed by our country. [..] And then he went lame duck. And once he went lame duck it was just really an exercise in waving to people and the power was gone, so I was very disappointed. I was very disappointed in Paul because the wall was so desperately needed. And it is. And I’ll get the wall.”Despite Ryan’s failure to get the capital needed for the imperative Southern border wall, President Trump maintains that he believes the former House Speaker was sincere at the time of making his promises:”I don’t want to say he lied. I think he probably meant it at the time, I guess. I hope. So I don’t call that lying. But when he went lame duck, meaning, he said he’s not running again — and it was very unusual because usually they’ll do that sometime after an election and he didn’t want to do that because it’s somewhat misrepresenting and I understand that too.”
Where We Are Today
Regardless of whether or not Paul Ryan was sincere or not, the truth of the matter is that, right now, the money for the border wall is still MIA. As Democrats continue to affirm their refusal to compromise with President Trump, it appears as though the declaration of a national emergency or another government shutdown may be around the corner. Only time will tell.
How do you think this war over the border wall will turn out? Do you believe that President Trump will wind up declaring a national emergency for the sake of our country? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
