An Immodest Proposal for a Border Wall

I had a dream last night about how to solve our government shutdown. Donald Trump wants a wall. Democrats want more housing. Robert Moses, the master builder of New York City, once had an idea that could combine these two things, but he never got it built. With a few minor changes to represent advancing technology, I think we could dig up the old plans and repurpose them. Behold:

You see where I’m going with this, don’t you? Donald Trump builds buildings, not walls, so this is ideal for him: 2,000 miles of mid-rises and high-rises that form the border with Mexico. The building complex becomes a walkable city all by itself, and the hyperloop means you’re never more than a few minutes from a port-of-entry and the city surrounding it. The south-facing windows, of course, would be bulletproof, and the bottom 30 feet would be steel fencing.

I figure it would cost $20-30 billion tops, and it could be finished in time for the 2020 election. So what do you think? Let’s hear your honest opinions.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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