Trump Privately Said His Border Visit ‘Not Going to Change a Damn Thing’: Report
WHOA
Said to acknowledge behind closed doors that strategy for getting border-wall funding is pointless.
Carlos Barria/Pool/Getty Images
Ahead of his televised prime-time address to push for border-wall funding on Tuesday night, President Trump reportedly conceded in private that his upcoming speech and planned trip to the border would be pointless. “It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” The New York Times quoted Trump as saying of the border visit, citing an unnamed source. Two sources cited by the Times said the president acknowledged in an off-the-record lunch with television anchors that he did not want to deliver the address or travel to Texas, but had been talked into it by advisers. He also reportedly said the visit to the border was merely a photo opportunity. “But,” he was quoted as saying, gesturing at his communications aides, Bill Shine, Sarah Sanders, and Kellyanne Conway, “these people behind you say it’s worth it." Trump’s trip to the border was announced this week, more than two weeks into a partial government shutdown prompted by his demands for border-wall funding. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said he would be traveling to the border to “meet with those on the frontlines of the national-security and humanitarian crisis.”
