Trump's Thursday morning tweetstorm is all about Mexico paying for the wall ...somehow

I supported Donald Trump because he was the only chance we had to seat a strict constructionist on the Supreme Court - full stop. That was it. For me, the idea of allowing Hillary Clinton to stack the bench against the U.S. Constitution was absolutely horrific. Trump was the only thing that could stop that, so the decision was obvious. That doesn't mean I can't get behind other Trump campaign staples - it only means that the SCOTUS had to be rescued from impending disaster, and once Rand Paul imploded, Trump was the only guy who had a shot at doing it. If I got solid judicial picks - and I have - I'd be happy. Anything else would be gravy.

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However, I'm aware that for a lot of people "The Wall" was the most important of all Trump's campaign promises. The problem was that "The Wall" was always a nebulous thing. Some people were sure it was a big, glorious, edifice that would stretch, unbroken, across Texas. Others believed it was a bit of a bait-and-switch, and it would turn out to be a figurative "wall of surveillance" rather than concrete. Still others thought it would be a combination of both, while naysayers claimed it would never happen at all. Perhaps even more controversial than the wall itself was how, precisely, a then-hypothetical President Trump would get Mexico to pony up a massive amount of cash. After all, if Donald Trump mentioned the wall, he almost always immediately followed-up with "And Mexico is going to pay for it." If you're among those who view the wall as your number one issue, you were probably less-than-thrilled yesterday when White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said of the wall:

“This president, if you've seen what he's done, he has changed the way he's looked at a number of things. There's been an evolutionary process that this president has gone through... and I pointed out to all the members that were in the room that they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed.”

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Certain geographic areas where building a wall would be unfeasible, unnecessary, or simply impossible

If you freaked out a bit, don't worry. That's understandable. The mainstream outlets reported that comment in a way that made it sound like Trump was running away from his promises. In reality, it was directed at the unarguable fact that there are certain geographic areas where building a wall would be unfeasible, unnecessary, or simply impossible. This morning, Trump took to Twitter with a clarification:

The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

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....The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.S. The $20 billion dollar Wall is “peanuts” compared to what Mexico makes from the U.S. NAFTA is a bad joke!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

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If you read between the lines, you'll find three things:

1. Kelly's full remarks, about geographic feasibility, were probably correct.
2. Trump is not thrilled that he made those comments the way he did.
3. Trump still has a nebulous plan to make Mexico pay for the construction, and he's still tying the DACA deal to the wall.

You can watch the Kelly interview below.

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