Trump Now Claims He Never Said Mexico Would Pay For The Wall

President Trump has spent the past 3½ years claiming that Mexico will pay for The Wall.


Today, he told reporters something different. From Business Insider:


During a question and answer session with reporters before heading to McAllen, Texas, on Thursday, Trump claimed he never meant Mexico would pay for the wall directly.


"When during the campaign, I would say Mexico is going to pay for it, obviously I never said this and I never meant they're going to write out a check," Trump said. "I said they were going to pay for it, they are, they're paying for it with the incredible deal we made called the United States-Mexico-Canada, USMCA deal."


But as far back as Trump's presidential announcement, the president made it clear that Mexico would be funding the wall.


"I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I'll have Mexico pay for that wall," Trump said in June 2015.


Additionally, the Trump campaign released a plan designed to coerce Mexico to make a direct $5 billion to $10 billion payment that would go toward the wall.


"It's an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5- 10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year," a plan from the campaign reads.


Later, Trump began to say that Congress would appropriate funds for the wall and then Mexico would pay that money back at a later date.


"The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!" Trump tweeted in January 2017.


All of this reminds me of when former President Obama claimed in November 2013 that he never said, 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,' despite saying so nearly 30 times.


It's true that President Trump lies with greater frequency than his predecessor. But Obama repeated the same lie over and over again.


Of course, Obama faced no consequence for his lies and it remains to be seen if Trump will either. The general public expects politicians to lie and seldom have the wherewithal to discourage politicians from engaging in such behavior. So the politicians keep lying.


A lot of it comes from their own supporters. Most Obama supporters didn't care if Obama lied about keeping their health care plans or doctors as long as he implemented some form of Obamacare. Chances are Trump's supporters don't care if Mexico doesn't pay for the wall as long as The Wall gets under construction. So yes the politicians keep lying because their supporters don't care.


It's enough to drive an honest person up the Wall.