When you can’t quite put your finger on why a reality star is involving himself in military affairs, that’s usually when you remember. That’s right. He’s president. A few seconds later, President Donald Trump does something to make you wish he weren’t commander in chief, like talk or in this case entrust a company that hasn’t met federal standards with nearly $400 million because he promised people a wall.
The Department of Defense announced Monday that North Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel company plans to build 31 miles of new barrier through the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Yuma County, Arizona, by Dec. 30, 2020, according to a statement from Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Fisher supporter. “I am glad to see more progress being made to secure the southern border, and I am grateful to see a good North Dakota company like Fisher Industries getting some of the work,” Cramer said. “I know they will do very well, performing high quality work at a good bargain, all for the security of the people of the United States.”
Just to jog your memory, Trump promised voters a wall when he first launched his presidential campaign with racist dog-whistles and ridiculous promises in June 2015. "I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall," the former Apprentice star said.
Well, the Trump administration has fallen just short of that promise, having only built about 85 miles of fencing and promising to complete 450 to 500 miles of new barriers by the end of 2020, according to The Washington Post. The U.S./Mexico border is 1,954 miles, and the Fisher construction plan hasn’t even gotten a stamp of approval from the International Boundary and Water Commission, the regulatory agency for the Rio Grande flood plain, the Post reported.
It, however, seems Tommy Fisher’s allure outranks silly federal standards. The Washington Post reported “Trump has been enamored with” Fisher, the company’s chief executive, after his many appearances on Fox News to contend his firm “would do a better job than those the government had already chosen.” Catherine Arnst, a spokeswoman for the United Hospital Fund, said it best when she called the news "a reminder that money always wins over nature, and ethics, in today's America.”