If you build it, they will come (over the border):
President Donald Trump complained via Twitter on Sunday that a privately
constructed border wall in Texas was a bad idea and poorly done — not
mentioning that his administration has awarded the builder a $1.7
billion contract to build more walls.
With the backing of Trump supporters, Tommy Fisher built a 3-mile border
fence along the Rio Grande, calling it the “Lamborghini” of fences. But
just months after completion of his showcase piece directly on the
banks of the river, there are signs of erosion along and under the fence
that threatens its stability and could cause it to topple into the
river if not fixed, experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. [snip]
Trump’s tweet, however, is belied by actions his administration has taken to support the wall’s builder.
The
administration gave Fisher the billion-dollar contract in May to build
additional stretches of the wall in Arizona, despite a lawsuit around
the South Texas project and an ongoing audit by the Pentagon’s inspector general of a previous border wall contract that is looking into possible “inappropriate influence.” (our emphasis)
We believe that's "
Lameborghini," Mr. Fisher. Your cult leader is now claiming you purposefully built it to fail just to "
make me look bad." How's that for having your back!? How's the view from under the bus?
Throwing good money after bad and rewarding incompetence, a fixture of the Trump family for decades, has been extended to politically- connected cronies:
In
total, Fisher has secured $1.7 billion in federal contracts since
December. Soon after the 2016 election, Fisher became a frequent guest
on Fox News and other conservative media, where he caught the attention
of Trump. Last year, The Washington Post reported
that the president “latch(ed) on” to Fisher’s claims of speed and
quality and “aggressively pushed” for the firm in conversations with top
Homeland Security officials.
Fisher
was also aided by a close relationship with freshman U.S. Sen. Kevin
Cramer, R-N.D., who advocated for the company with Trump and Trump’s
son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Fisher and family members donated at least
$24,000 during Cramer’s victorious 2018 election bid, according to
campaign finance records. (our emphasis)
Not to be too harsh on Fisher, his isn't the only example of failure. Here are some other examples of the quality design and workmanship on the border wall we've come to associate with the Trump name:
Sad!
