Build the STEEL SLAT!

A design of our Steel Slat Barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful! pic.twitter.com/sGltXh0cu9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018

If the above Presidential directive gives you a splitting headache, Dara Lind at Vox (of course) has the lowdown:

What Trump wants: $5 billion for 215 miles of border wall 

Ultimately, the Trump administration wants to build hundreds of miles of border barriers — a lot more than $5 billion can provide. But it has identified particular stretches of the border as top priorities, and a $5 billion appropriation would allow it to blast through several of them. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that if it got the whole $5 billion, it would be able to build 215 miles’ worth of barriers along the US-Mexico border. Most of this — about 150 miles — would be built where no physical barriers currently exist; the rest would be intended to replace some older and less imposing barriers.  [...]  All of this would be a bollard barrier made of steel poles, erected close enough together to prevent entry but far enough apart that Border Patrol agents can see what’s happening on the other side. ([hence] the“see-through wall” that Trump got excited about back in 2017.)  Previous administrations referred to bollards as fencing; the Trump administration calls it a wall; and Trump himself has started calling them “steel slats” because he thinks it sounds tougher. 

What the Senate has floated: $1.6 billion for 65 miles of “fencing” 

When the Senate’s subcommittee for Homeland Security appropriations in June passed a DHS budget for fiscal year 2019, it included $1.6 billion for the Trump administration to build 65 miles of barriers in the Rio Grande Valley. The subcommittee called it “pedestrian fencing,” but in practice it would be identical to the barrier the Trump administration is now calling a wall. 

This was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s offer to Trump earlier this month, to the consternation of progressives who wanted no money whatsoever for “Trump’s wall.”  Democrats in the House have said they wouldn’t vote for even $1.6 billion in “wall money.” They may thread the needle the same way the Senate has, and decide that they are going to call it “fencing” or just “border security,” even as they give the administration money for something Trump will call a wall. Or they could decide that as long as Republicans insist on talking about $1.6 billion for a wall, they won’t vote for it[...] 

The Trump administration has gone from insisting on concrete barriers that Mexico would pay for, to trumpeting the existence of a “wall” made out of materials that were already in use before Trump [declared his candidacy].  If it wants to, it can take whatever barriers it ends up building, and declare victory. The question of how much wall is enough is much less a question of policy than of what Trump himself will be satisfied with [...]

And don't forget that Trump isn't really serious about wanting the wall, else he'd be willing to put something on the line, a compromise of some sorts -- he's just in it for the fight (which must be televised a la 90's reality shows), and Republicans know this all along.

So somewhere in Florida, Jeb! is ROTFLHAO:

Jeb Bush just talked about my border proposal to build a "fence." It's not a fence, Jeb, it's a WALL, and there's a BIG difference!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2015

Who's going to pay for the wall?

2015-2018: Mexico
2018-2018: Mexico (indirectly)
2018: the wall itself https://t.co/shRmitwrZf

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) December 21, 2018

Fast forward to 2020:

A design of our Steel Slat Barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful! pic.twitter.com/QSa43Buwq9

— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) December 21, 2018

“Mr. President, your welfare proposal is nothing but a lot of technical jargon and partisan rhetoric and..." pic.twitter.com/1b7HRnihA3

— SimpsonsQOTD (@SimpsonsQOTD) December 17, 2018