Donald Trump always said he would build that wall. And it seems things are starting, though officials fear a backlash the size of last year's Dakota Access Pipeline protests in North Dakota. The wall is surely at the top of Trump's controversial proposals, among his healthcare plan, militarized police, increased military spending, ending DACA, instating a refugee ban, rolling back abortion rights...yeah. There's a lot. The government has committed multiple prototypes to be built, and the best prototype for the wall, like a game show, will be picked by the government. So giant slabs 30 by 30 feet wide and tall are being built on the Mexican border as a trial run for the material to build the wall. "I will build a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me --and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Well, Mexico's not paying. It's going to cost taxpayers around 21 billion dollars. Plus, he's putting forth a gargantuan $700 billion budget for the military. How exactly is universal healthcare too expensive, again? Crazy enough, one of the prototypes is also transparent, as Trump mentioned at one of his many speeches - to prevent people getting clocked in the head with drugs fired from the other side. "One of the things with the wall is you need transparency. You have to be able to see through it. In other words, if you can't see through that wall — so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what's on the other side of the wall. "And I'll give you an example: As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don't see them — they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It's over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall. But we have some incredible designs." This is all thanks to The Border Security for America Act, which funds $10 billion for the border wall and $5 billion for gates and wall entry points, as well as the hiring of 5,000 more Border Patrol agents. Trump, meanwhile, has accused Puerto Rico of "throwing our budget out of whack". These prototypes are only the initial phase of the construction of this massive, multi-year, multi-billion-dollar border wall whose efficacy is hotly debated. In other news, Trump has proposed that we are currently in the "calm before the storm" after a talk with his military leaders. What storm? "We'll see," he said. It doesn't feel particularly calm. But maybe it's about to get much more turbulent, especially if a war or military engagement appears. All Trump needs now to truly be a destructive force is a war. So far, without a war, he remains a more peaceful President than George W. Bush. Hopefully there is no war on the horizon.

When Donald Trump was running for president, he promised voters to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and make Mexico pay for it. However, Mexico had no interest in paying for a wall, which is estimated to cost anywhere from $21.6 billion to $70 billion, plus require money each year for maintenance. Afterward, Trump pivoted, and tried to persuade Congress to pay for the wall, arguing, without evidence, that it would pay for itself "in two months."

For the first two years of Trump's presidency, Congress wasn't keen on paying for a wall. Critics argue that the U.S-Mexico border is already well-defended; it's impossible to quantify the impact on crime rates from illegal immigration; there is little to no evidence illegal immigrants are taking people's jobs; and the wall could be easily circumnavigated by ladders, tunnels or immigrants overextending their visas. Therefore, the enormous cost would not seem to be worth it.

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Yesterday the House of Representatives passed a spending bill that includes $5.1 billion for wall funding, causing the MAGA hat crowd to rejoice. However, that bill is likely to die in the Senate as it requires 60 votes to pass. The Senate is currently comprised of 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats; the Democrats are staunchly against the wall, and many Republicans have misgivings. (Previously, a bipartisan spending bill passed the Senate and the House, but Trump refused to sign it.)

If Congress and the president can't agree on a spending bill by midnight tonight, the government will partially shut down. That means 420,000 federal employees considered "essential" will continue to work, and be paid retroactively when the shutdown is over. Meanwhile, more than than 380,000 federal employees face furloughs - unpaid time off - just in time for Christmas. During a meeting with Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, President Trump stated, "I would be proud to shut down the government for border security."

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With Trump's plan for a beautiful wall appearing to hit a beautiful wall, Trump supporters are now funding the project themselves. Brian Kolfage, a triple amputee Air Force veteran, started a crowdfunding campaign to construct the 2,000-mile wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. As of this writing, his GoFundMe page has raised $13 million of a $1 billion goal in four days. (The wall would actually cost much more, but $1 billion is the maximum amount you can raise on the website.)

On his GoFundMe page, Kolfage implores donors to trust him, insisting that his campaign is not a scam. But while he links to his public Facebook page, he does not mention his history with the social media platform.

Recently Facebook deleted 559 pages for "Inauthentic Activity," which means they "mislead others about who they are, and what they are doing" and were "using fake accounts to drive traffic to their websites." Kolfage told NBC that he ran multiple pages that were pulled down: Right Wing News, and its affiliates VeteranAF and FreedomDaily, which promoted false conspiracy theories before the 2016 election. This included the claim that Hillary Clinton was secretly suffering from deadly illnesses, as well as numerous fake news stories about voter fraud.

After his pages were expunged, Kolfage created the group Fight4FreeSpeech to raise money to keep the pages alive. He told NBC he did not mention his past on GoFundMe because he "didn't want it to be a distraction" from the border wall project. "I don't wanna mix the two. That shouldn't be the focus. My personal issues have nothing to do with building the wall," he said.

But hey, if you don't support the wall, you can always donate to Ladders for Migrant Siblings.

Donald Trump, current US president and 72-year-old toddler, only wanted one thing for Christmas: Funding for a big, beautiful wall between the United States and Mexico.

Just imagine, 2,000 miles of "artistically designed steel slats" - so beautiful! It would make such a great national landmark. The Statue of Liberty says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore." And the border wall says, "F*** YOU! GO BACK TO YOUR SH*THOLE COUNTRY!"

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Unfortunately, President Trump has not been able to secure funding for the wall, despite Republicans controlling all three branches of government. During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly said that Mexico would pay for the wall, to which they replied, to use a little español: No. No, no, no!

According to various reports, the wall is estimated to cost anywhere from $21.6 billion to $70 billion, plus the annual cost of maintenance. Critics say the wall is an exorbitantly expensive non-solution to a non-problem. They argue that the border is already well-defended, it is unclear how the 'wall' would 'pay for itself,' and illegal immigrants could circumnavigate the barrier with ladders, tunnels and overextended visas.

Furthermore, studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born. Xenophobic grifters like to fearmonger about migrant caravans and violent criminal aliens, but researchers agree that it's impossible to quantify the impact on crime rates from illegal immigration.

Last week the House of Representatives passed a spending bill that included $5.1 billion for wall funding, but it is likely to die in the Senate. There are currently 51 Republican Senators and 49 Democratic Senators. The Democrats are staunchly against it, and not even all the Republicans are on board.

A bipartisan spending bill previously passed both the Senate and the House, but Trump refused to sign it. As a result, they missed the deadline, and the government has partially shut down. 420,000 "essential" federal employees continue to work, and will be paid retroactively when the shutdown is over, and, 380,000 federal employees face furlough - unpaid time off. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Today President Trump threw another desperate Twitter tantrum, threatening to close the Southern border 'entirely' if the liberal members of Congress don't bend the knee: "We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall," he tweeted, presumably while stomping his foot and pouting.

As the tirade continued, the president demanded changes to "ridiculous immigration laws," threatened to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), claimed he would cut off aid to Central American countries, stirred up hysteria about another migrant caravan, and, of course, capitalized Random Words. (Why does He do That?)

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It looks like both sides are at an impasse, but that might change when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd. In response to the shutdown, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement through her chief of staff:

“Democrats have offered Republicans three options to re-open government that all include funding for strong, sensible, and effective border security — but not the president’s immoral, ineffective and expensive wall. With the House Majority, Democrats will act swiftly to end the Trump Shutdown, and will fight for a strategic, robust national security policy, including strong and smart border security, and strong support for our service members and veterans."

Donald Trump has a lot of stupid ideas - that's why his Secretary of State called him a "moron." But his stupidest idea has to be building a wall between the United States and Mexico. It's ridiculously expensive, would not effectively fight illegal immigration, and is not even logistically possible, because there are mountain ranges, rivers and towns in the way. (Also, when asked if Mexico would pay for it, the Mexican President said "F--- no!") Yet Trump has persisted with his plan. He's released photos of what the wall would look like, and drone photographs show prototypes being constructed. It's still a long way from becoming a reality, but it sucks there's a chance it might happen. Experts say the wall could cost anywhere from 20 billion to 70 billion - really? We can afford to spend all that money on a wall, but we can't afford to pay for universal health care? What is wrong with people? Luckily, an unlikely hero has stepped up: Cards Against Humanity. The number one selling party game lets users complete fill-in-the-blank statements with offensive, politically incorrect phrases. Eight students from Highland Park High School created it in 2011. Since then, it's entertained people at parties all over all the world (at least, until the card combinations get stale.) Now the company - which is totally independent - has come up with a brilliant new promotion that will save America. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jenndangerous/status/930476625665380352]] Here's how it works: The Cards Against Humanity  team bought a piece of vacant land on the U.S. / Mexican border, and will make it extremely difficult for Trump to build his wall. They're asking fans to donate $15 to help with the costs, and they'll get "six surprises" in the mail as a fun bonus (if the idea of getting a "surprise" present from Cards Against Humanity doesn't terrify you). [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxMvzK2OQTw]] On CardsAgainstHumanitySavesAmerica.com, they explain: "Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a $20 billion wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing. So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built." Make sure to check out the "Frequently Asked Questions," because they're pretty funny: "YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T GOING TO DO ONE OF THESE COMPLICATED HOLIDAY PROMOTIONS AGAIN. We’re liars, just like the president. I DON’T LIKE THAT YOU’RE GETTING POLITICAL. WHY DON’T YOU JUST STICK TO CARD GAMES? Why don’t you stick to seeing how many Hot Wheels cars you can fit up your asshole? I DON’T LIVE IN THE US OR CANADA. CAN I STILL SIGN UP? No. This is Cards Against Humanity Saves America, not Cards Against Humanity Saves The Dumb Country You Live In. I’D LIKE TO CANCEL MY ORDER. We’d like to cancel the 2016 election, but neither of us is going to get what we want. IS CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT NOW? We’re just being regular correct." Thanks for saving America, Cards Against Humanity! I'm more of a Scrabble guy, but what has Scrabble done to save America? Nothing, that's what. Step your game up, Scrabble.

There's practically no way you can be alive in 2017 and not know who Donald Trump is. And if you do know him, then you now about the wall between Mexico and the United States that he has been talking about for what feels like years now. Back when the idea of a literal wall to stop illegal immigration (and make legal immigration that much harder) first started gaining steam in his presidential campaign, many of us rolled our eyes, while others took the time to point out how this wouldn't work, or ask how exactly this monumental scheme was going to be pulled off. But now that he has made his way to office, many began to wonder if he actually intended on following through on one of his major campaign promises, an idea that soothed many Trump supporters who had anxieties over illegal immigration in the U.S.A. Every now and then Trump reminds us that he still intends on carrying out these plans, though the disastrous events in Texas these last few weeks are bound to have taken precedent as of late. His statements have not ceased however, as he has clarified that the wall won't necessarily cover the entirety of the border. The border, which stretches across four U.S. states, already has 600 miles of barriers, and Trump has said that due to the natural landscape less than half of the 2,000 mile frontier will need new developments. "You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious," he said, "You have some areas that are so far away that you don't really have people crossing. But you'll need anywhere from 700 to 900 miles." The project, having not been approved by the still-deliberating Congress, is still in its early stages. However, a picture has emerged from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection wing of the government, displaying a 150-foot no-man's land between the U.S. and Mexico. This area will be electronically monitored, the picture shows. A CBP spokesperson said in an official statement: "These concrete prototypes will serve two important ends. First, given their robust physical characteristics, like reinforced concrete, between 18-30 feet high, the concrete border wall prototypes are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed." "Second, the concrete border wall prototypes will allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years." So far, Trump has asked Congress for $1.6 billion towards the project, claiming it will cost around $10 billion. However, many estimate it will cost more than $20 billion. Mexico's former leader Vincento Fox Quesada has been particularly critical of Trump given his unsubstantiated claims that his country will pay for the project, asking how that money would be better implemented. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/vicentefoxque/status/824663479122612224]] Each prototype is set to cost between $400,000 and $500,000. There is no news on when exactly building will take place, or any other details about the funding of the wall.