This column www.dailykos.com/… that I posted a couple of nights ago, estimating the cost of Trump’s steel slats wall, drew really helpful and intelligent comments. Some thought my estimated cost of $100 billion was too high, some thought it too low (especially the legal costs of acquiring the land), and others thought the cost largely irrelevant. Some of the most illuminating comments showed how easily the wall could be breached. Consider the following:
First, the bad guys could pass drugs across, southbound, through the spaces between the slats. Coming back the other way, it would be easier still to pass money back, northbound, through those same spaces. See dailykos.com/… This would be easy to demonstrate and show on the national news, right after Trump’s speech tonight from the Oval Office.
Second, as the slats are likely hollow steel tubing rather than solid steel, it would be child’s play to torch them away with an acetylene torch.
Third, it would be easy to cut them away with a circular tungsten carbide saw.
Fourth, as DKos community member Monamongoose states, “thermite, once ignited, can very rapidly turn steel into a liquid. It is used every day in welding railroad track. It takes less than 5 minutes with thermite to liquefy rail ends and them weld them back together. . . . Two people could drive up to the fence in a small ATV, set the charges on 3 ‘slats’ and ignite them within a minute. A minute later the jaws of life could finish a section off large enough to drive a motorcycle through.”
Fifth, if the steel is thin, hollow tubing, the spaces between the slats will make it relatively easy to jack apart these slats using an ordinary jack.
Sixth, the very presence of this steel-slats wall would make it essential to have increased surveilance, including high-tech surveilance, to prevent such breaches and to protect this precious asset. If we have all that surveilance, who needs this porous wall?
Good heavens, who is the engineering genius on the White House Staff in charge of advising IQ45 on these matters? Steve Miller or Sarah Huckabee Sanders?
This may be the dumbest proposal ever to be taken seriously by a large, albeit minority, portion of the Congress and the public. Imagine pictures of each of these breaches going viral after this $100 billion monstrosity is built!