Many Americans, don’t know that from the beginning Trump’s Wall was only a political meme and never intended to be built.
Political tricksters Roger Stone, Sam Nunberg and Steve Bannon invented The Wall as a political meme and rallying cry to lather up the bigots, racists, White Nationalists and White Supremacists in Trump's Cult of Personality, otherwise known as Trump’s base.
At first, Trump was lukewarm to the idea until the first time he mentioned it at a rally and his racist Minions cheered, inpiring Trump like he had never been inspired before. When Trump first realized that maybe a wall could be effective branding for him, TrumpWall™ [trademark in jest] became more than a symbol of bigotry to rally around. In Trump’s mind, TrumpWall could forever memorialize him, much as Obamacare memorialized Obama and Reaganomics (aka Voodoo Economics) memorialized Reagan. Trump even compared his “great wall… with a great very big beautiful door” to the Great Wall of China. Now, Trump wants TrumpWall in the worst way and it has become his #1 brand.
Trump’s wall: The inside story of how the president crafts immigration policy
— Washington Post, July 19, 2017
Trump sees a border fortress as the physical manifestation of his identity as a builder and dealmaker — a president able to construct the nation’s security almost by hand, and to somehow persuade Mexico to pay for it.
We all know Trump has been a racist his entire life, evidenced by a federal descrimination lawsuit, his full-page op-eds attacking the Central Park Five and his reign as Birther-In-Chief. Despite Trump’s racism, immigration wasn’t even on his political radar initially. In reality there wasn’t much was on Trump’s poltical radar anyway, he just wanted to be President to feed his vacuous ego. Trump’s motivations were simple: personal gain, the enrichment of his family, and favors for Russian Oligarchs to whom he owes millions of dollars with no way to pay them back.
Understanding the power of Nationalism as a political force, Roger Stone, Sam Nunberg and Steve Bannon decided that immigration should be a plank of Trump’s run for the Presidency and Bannon convinced Trump to try it out. Sidenote: It’s surprising that Stephen Miller wasn’t involved.
At the Iowa Freedom Summit, Trump tried out the nationalist strategy that Stone, Nunberg and Bannon developed and “the place went nuts”. Trump realized for the first time the political power he could instantly gain by reviving Latino immigrants as the bogeyman. We didn’t know how many closeted White Nationalists we really had in America until Trump tested the waters.
Where The Idea For Donald Trump's Wall Came From
Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border did not come from security analysts following years of study or through evidence that a wall would reduce illegal immigration. Amazingly, for something so central to the current U.S. president, the wall came about as a “mnemonic device” thought up by a pair of political consultants to remind Donald Trump to talk about illegal immigration.
In 2014, Trump’s plan to run for president moved into high gear. His political confidant was consultant Roger Stone. “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.”
Joshua Green had good access to Trump insiders, including Sam Nunberg, who worked with Stone. “Roger Stone and I came up with the idea of ‘the Wall,’ and we talked to Steve [Bannon] about it,” according to Nunberg. “It was to make sure he [Trump] talked about immigration.”
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.’”
So, here we are today. We have the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter substantially forming US policy and shutting down the US Government. For what? For no other reason than to tickle Donald Trump’s ego. If Stone, Nunberg and Bannon had been environmentalists instead of White Nationalists, just think how much better off America would be. It wouldn’t have mattered either way to Trump as long as he had something to memorialize him.