Trump says that he plans to have American taxpayers shell out the billions of dollars needed for the wall “for sake of speed,” and that Mexico will still ultimately pay for it “later.” To be fair, while Trump touted that Mexico will pay for the wall while he was campaigning, he did say in the weeks leading up to the election that his plan was for Mexico to reimburse U.S. costs, and not lay out the money up front. Trump’s morning tweet indicates that this is still his plan of action.
Of course, there are two huge potential problems with this. First, Congress could just say no. While Republicans do control the House and Senate, that does not necessarily mean that enough lawmakers will be in favor of appropriating billions of dollars for this project. Second, Mexico could say no to reimbursements after the U.S. already spends the money. Mexican leaders have yet to say that they are on board with this plan, so shelling out taxpayers’ dollars could be risky if Trump doesn’t end up convincing them to take on the financial burden.
[Image via screengrab]