The Republican Party is all set to jump on the crazy train by adding Donald Trump’s (R-NY) idea to build a wall along the United States/Mexican border to the official party platform.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Amy Carnevale of Massachusetts led the charge. Both are members of the the Republican National Convention Platform Committee, and petitioned their fellows members to add language that would solidify Trump’s position in the party platform. It would then become official when distributed to delegates at the Republican National Convention.
This marks a significant jump from the tentative proposal on border policy obtained by CNN last week. That language said that:
“That is why we have in the past demanded, at our vulnerable borders, construction of a physical barrier and, at all ports of entry, maximum vigilance…”
The new language, according to Kobach, would say:
“That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protect if all ports of entry… The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”
Not included in this language, you might notice, is who is going to pay for this wall. Trump has repeatedly stated that Mexico would pay for it. Mexico has responded to that with “yeah, good luck with that.”
Many Republican leaders have attempted to distance themselves from Trump’s vitriolic language against Mexicans and Hispanics, but this puts them in a difficult position. Public opinion is strongly against Trump’s border wall, but by putting it into the party’s official platform many vulnerable Republicans may feel they have to go along with it, despite personal and popular feelings to the contrary.
The GOP circus never ends, it seems.
Watch a clip of Donald Trump speaking about his border wall here:
Feature image via Youtube screengrab
