And Everyone Except Mexico Will Pay For It.

Trump declared the Southern Border to be a national emergency months ago. He did this to give him the power to spend money on a wall that Congress told him he couldn’t spend money on. This week, the president got his wish. The Pentagon is shelving 3.6 Billion dollars in military projects and will be using that money to repair existing barriers and to finally start building Trump’s wall. The DoD says this will buy about 171 miles of repaired and new fencing .

So, that’s what the tax payers are getting – a bit of wall and wall repairs that most experts say won’t do much to keep immigrants out and certainly won’t do much to deter the multi-billion dollar drug trade, which is largely smuggled through legal ports of entry.

Now let’s see what we’re giving up. The are 127 projects that this money was originally going to fund. Let’s look at a few.

Puerto Rico is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, lose here. Still reeling from the effects of hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico will lose $400 Million in military spending, including a power substation and a National Guard readiness center.  That’s a shame, because given Puerto Rico’s determination to get in the way of hurricanes and such, it can definitely use a power station and a National Guard readiness center. But diverting and delaying these funds also kills off a lot of potential jobs for the Islanders. So, while Mexico won’t pay for the wall, we have the next best thing – Puerto Ricans.

PEURTO RICO – IT’S THE NEXT BEST THING TO SCREWING MEXICO! 

Meanwhile, back at the states:

1. Alabama is losing about $5 Million. MAGA

2. Arizona is taking a $3 Million dollar hit. MAGA

3. Florida, 17 Million. MAGA

4. Alaska 94 Million. MAGA

5. Indiana $24 Million. MAGA

6. Kentucky $62 Million. MAGA

And on and on and on. You can download the pdf of all the military’s greatest hits here. 

Does this shift in funds hurt our military? Does it strengthen or weaken national security? And will each state’s politicians pay a price for keeping silent, if they do keep silent? For example, Trump just cost the people of Kentucky a lot of money. That should worry #MoscowMitch and #PettyPaul. (If you can think of a better nickname for Rand Paul, post it in the comments below. Whoever comes up with the best nickname wins the glowing satisfaction of a job well done).

Trump’s obsession with a wall is doing real damage to the pocketbooks of the states that handed him the election. In exchange, we all get to pay a heavy price for the questionable benefit of extending the barrier on the southern border. 

But maybe those funds ARE better spent on a fence instead of the military. Our commander-in-chief has made it clear that we are no longer interested in projecting force or being the world’s police. So why do we need such a large military for? If we really are giving up on the policies that made us an economic giant on the world stage, why do we need the world’s largest military to protect our reduced security interests?

What do you think, Kentucky? Are you willing to take one for the team? MAGA! Don’t forget to drop Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul a note to express how happy you are about losing all that cheddar. 

Most politicians would fight tooth and nail to keep this kind of money in their state. You know, in a normal world.