Columnist: Quit playing around, build the wall

Columnist Chris Friend says President Trup needs to stop fooling around and build the wall.

Alexander the Great, conquering much of the known world by age 33, was truly a “great” leader. Testament to that were the scores of cities named after him.

Yet he paled in comparison to Mongolian leader Genghis Khan, who, in expanding the largest contiguous empire in history, conquered every one of Alexander’s cities. Despite his many attempts, however, even the Great Khan of Khans could not conquer the most valued prize – Xiangyang, gateway to southern China and the Yangtze River, and the most important city of the Song Dynasty.

The Song built their wall for good reason: Walls worked. They had been used successfully for thousands of years, not just protecting those behind them, but preserving a civilization’s very way of life.

But haven’t they become outdated, serving only as symbols of intolerance and political incorrectness? Not a chance. Just ask the Israelis.

During the Second Intifada that started in September 2000 – where Palestinians waged deadly terror attacks against Israeli citizens – the Israeli government finally had enough; it authorized the construction of a barrier between the West Bank and Israel. It worked. Big time. In 2002, as construction commenced, there were 73 suicide bombings by Palestinians from the West Bank, killing more than 450 and injuring more than 2,000. But as each segment was completed, the carnage lessened, dropping to just 12 attacks in 2006. Today, hostile infiltrations have become virtually nonexistent.

Has the wall isolated Palestinians from Israeli society, and have tourists been denied access to historic sites in the Palestinian Territories, such as Bethlehem and Jericho? As this author can attest, having recently traveled throughout the Palestinian territories, not at all.

Closer to home, talks continue about sealing the southern border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, drug cartels, human traffickers and tax-evading cargo smugglers. We’re not talking about the U.S. border, but the Mexico-Guatemala border, where over a half-million folks try to enter illegally each year, wreaking havoc on Mexico’s physical and economic security. How ironic that the Mexican government vigorously criticizes American efforts to secure its southern border – interfering in our sovereign affairs – yet often brutally repels those crossing its southern border. And what do we hear now? Mexico possibly constructing – ready for this? – a southern border wall. Can’t make this up. President Trump’s biggest fault has been improperly framing the border wall issue. Sure, the wall will impede the flow of illegal immigrants, but comprehensive immigration reform dealing with those already here will better resolve that issue. More important for the day-today well-being of the American people will be the wall’s effectiveness in deterring drug smuggling. Additionally, a wall would hinder “coyotes” – human traffickers who often take people’s life savings as payment for smuggling them into America, only to rape and murder their “cargo,” or leave them to die in the back of a truck.

In case the president hasn’t realized it, the Republicans control everything in Washington. Everything.

They don’t need Democratic support to pass legislation, especially with such a large majority in the House. Mr. Trump’s inability to get his own people on board is a colossal failure of leadership, and has nothing – zero – to do with the Democrats. Ditto for blaming the Dems for the health-care failure.

Bottom line: This is a personal issue masquerading as a political one. And that’s exactly what happens when a president continually shoots off his mouth and insults people rather than acting presidentially.

It’s time for the president to stop squandering perhaps the greatest opportunity in American history. It’s time he gets his head out of the reality TV clouds and into the political game called running the country.

And it’s time to build a border wall, because as Ronald Reagan correctly stated, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”

President Trump, let’s get it done. And if not, prepare to be deported in the next election.