Donald Trump is trying to sell the spending bill as a victory for his precious border wall. As is so often the case, he’s lying and the real question is whether he’s lying more to himself or more to the rest of us. Trump tweeted that “Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming.” In reality:
… Democrats pointed out that only $641 million of that money is designated for 33 miles of “new fencing or levees” ― specifically not a concrete wall. The rest of the money is for repairing or replacing existing fencing or border security technology.
Not just Democrats, though:
“Are we going to continue to fund sanctuary cities? Are we going to continue to fund Planned Parenthood? Are we going to continue to raise the debt to levels that quite frankly are unsustainable and bankrupt our country?” [House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows] said. “There is really no wall funding. People will try to spin it as there is wall funding, but the [$1.6 billion] has been in there for some time.”
Kind of makes you wonder if someone spun it to Trump that way to get him on board, so when he claims victory he’s not so much lying as repeating a lie someone told him.
It’s a relatively small win since Trump’s deportations roll on, but not spending tens of billions of dollars on a substantively useless monument to hatred is a good thing. And thwarting Trump on perhaps his biggest single policy obsessions is always fun.