“When aides have suggested that some of his orders are illegal or unworkable, Trump has suggested he would pardon the officials if they would just go ahead, aides said.” https://t.co/eR13aozsqh
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 28, 2019
They’re a bunch of damaged middle school boys drawing up plans for their Fortress of Evil. Disgusting as this is, take it as one more data point that Trump (or at least his smarter minions) doesn’t expect to be in the Oval Office after 2020. From the Washington Post, “‘Take the land’: President Trump wants a border wall. He wants it black. And he wants it by Election Day”:
President Trump is so eager to complete hundreds of miles of border fence ahead of the 2020 presidential election that he has directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, according to current and former officials involved with the project…
Trump has repeatedly promised to complete 500 miles of fencing by the time voters go to the polls in November 2020, stirring chants of “Finish the Wall!” at his political rallies as he pushes for tighter border controls. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed just about 60 miles of “replacement” barrier during the first 2½ years of Trump’s presidency, all of it in areas that previously had border infrastructure.
The president has told senior aides that a failure to deliver on the signature promise of his 2016 campaign would be a letdown to his supporters and an embarrassing defeat. With the election 14 months away and hundreds of miles of fencing plans still in blueprint form, Trump has held regular White House meetings for progress updates and to hasten the pace, according to several people involved in the discussions…
Asked for comment, a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Trump is joking when he makes such statements about pardons…
Repub Venality Open Thread: Trump Wants His WAAAAAHll & He Wants It NAOOOOWPost + Comments (50)