What bothers me most about President Donald Trump’s border wall is not its excessive cost, nor the fact that most experts agree that it would be ineffective without increased patrols and technology.
What bothers me most is not the fact that the wall itself was the idea of a couple of campaign aides as a strategy to remind an “undisciplined candidate” to focus on immigration so as to fire up his followers.
What bothers me most is not even the fact that the wall has become a symbol of the blatant racism, hate and xenophobia that have characterized this administration.
No, what bothers me most is that if Democrats step in to save federal workers and contractors from the damage Trump inflicted on them once, and may again, he will surely repeat the same tactic to get his way in the future.
When he realizes that $5.7 billion is not nearly enough to build a 1,953-mile wall, let alone pay for patrolling it or for taking property from border landowners by eminent domain, Trump will demand more money.
The next time he's taunted by right-wing talk show hosts, Trump will throw government employees under the bus again to spare his ego, just as he's done for decades with his own employees.
Enough is enough. The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him.
Blair Bateman, Provo
