[Only to someone with an axe to grind does building 450 miles of new border wall constitute, failing to build a wall.]
The administration built 458 total miles of primary and secondary border barriers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows. The majority were replacements of smaller, dilapidated barriers.
Replacement barriers and secondary barriers that are behind primary barriers don’t add additional miles to the southern border’s total coverage. And when voters heard he would build a wall, they thought he meant from sea to shining sea.
As to the rest, it’s got the air of “France wanted to, but did not win the Battle of France, because the Germans were just too strong”. What everyone remembers is that Trump failed, that he wasn’t capable of doing what he claimed he would.
>>”As to the rest, it’s got the air of “France wanted to, but did not win the Battle of France, because the Germans were just too strong”.”
Well it if has that air to you, then you missed my point. My point was that it’s a mistake to declare Trump a failure while he and we are still in the middle of the battle. Trump never gave up after 2020. He regrouped and went back on offensive. If he had just rolled over and retired into obscurity, maybe your assessment would have more merit. But he didn’t.
>>”What everyone remembers is that Trump failed, that he wasn’t capable of doing what he claimed he would.”
No, that’s not what everyone remembers. Trump is probably stronger, politically, now than he’s ever been. More and more people recognize what he (and we) are up against, and admire his tenacity.
With regards to the border wall, 450 miles of newly constructed wall were built, with much of it replacing existing but ineffective border barrier. One of the strengths of the new wall construction was not only that it replaced, existing, sub-par, wall with more effective structures, but also connected them through new wall construction, replacing a piecemeal collection of isolated structures with long stretches of contiguous wall.
This new construction allowed the Trump administration to drastically reduce illegal crossings by the end of his term, because the number of gaps had been reduced to a more manageable number, allowing border patrol to more effectively focus their attention. Of course there were plans to fill in what remained, but the 2020 election cut that short.
Replacement barriers and secondary barriers that are behind primary barriers don’t add additional miles to the southern border’s total coverage
This account is definitively a nevertrumper...
The border stuff that got replaced were barb wire, and vehicle barriers consisting of steel beans on x shaped supports.
And yet, this poster would gaslight and have you believe that replacing something trivial that someone could step over, with 30’ high fences, are the same thing...