Trump's Failure to Build the Border Wall Is Entirely His Own
We may never know why he walked away from the perfect opportunity to carry out his signature campaign pledge. He may never know either.
He didn’t build the wall but he left a plaque with his name on it.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
While the world waits and waits to see whether Donald Trump will seek the presidency again, it is worth looking back at one of the enduring puzzles of his time in office: why he failed to achieve some of his key goals on immigration even when the opportunity to win seemed to be handed to him.
Immigration was central to his rise. During the 2016 primaries, Republican voters who said it was their top issue were among his biggest supporters. A wall on the U.S. border with Mexico was his most famous policy objective. Yet he got only 47 miles of the border walled off during his term.