Republican elected officials are blaming the Biden administration for a seasonal influx of migrants at the southern border, and many of them are still clinging to former President Donald Trump's campaign promise of a giant wall as a solution to unauthorized border crossings.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced this week that he'd be releasing a crowdfunding effort to build the wall in his state.
Abbott said on the Ruth Less podcast:
"When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States — really everybody in the entire world — who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute."
The Governor painted a rosy picture of the effort, but others remembered a similar campaign that ended in disaster.
Avowed white nationalist and former Trump official Steve Bannon was arrested on his yacht last year after officials discovered that portions of the $25 million raised for his online funding effort, We Build the Wall, went toward personal expenses.
Bannon was eventually pardoned by his former boss, Trump, in the last days of his administration.
With Trump no longer in office, Abbott won't have that same hope if the funds generated from donations go misused.
People thought the effort reeked of Bannon.
TX Gov Greg Abbott is going to ask for public donations to fund the border wall. Isn't that what Steve Bannon got in trouble for? Maybe Abbott wants to pad his pockets too.— Amy Lynn \u2721\ufe0f\ud83d\udc3f\ufe0f (@Amy Lynn \u2721\ufe0f\ud83d\udc3f\ufe0f) 1623775502
Didn\u2019t work for Steve Bannon but I guess Abbott is gonna try.https://twitter.com/anacabrera/status/1404827958422949891\u00a0\u2026— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1623773266
How did that work out for Steve Bannon after I reported on WeBuildTheWall's graft?https://twitter.com/AnaCabrera/status/1404827958422949891\u00a0\u2026— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@Grant Stern is fully vaccinated) 1623776228
Texas\u2019 GQP Governor is asking for public donations to help pay for the border wall.\n\nWasn\u2019t Steve Bannon charged with the same kind of attempt at fraud?— Ricky Davila (@Ricky Davila) 1623776821
Texas governor Abbott asks for private donations to fund his border wall. When people donated millions to build Trump\u2019s border wall, much of it ended up lining the pockets of organizers like Steve Bannon. Maybe Abbott wants to pad his pockets toohttps://trib.al/915IJs3— Alfons L\u00f3pez Tena (@Alfons L\u00f3pez Tena) 1623777784
It's curious that Abbott, Bannon, or anyone is eager to crowdfund border wall funds, considering that Trump long-promised Mexico would pay for the chimeric undertaking.
Thanks, Gov. Abbott, but that\u2019s just another version of \u201cMexico will pay for it.\u201d How about making sure veterans in Texas have housing, internet, food, adequate healthcare and electricity and THEN build a wall?https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1404833784114077696\u00a0\u2026— Barbara OToole (@Barbara OToole) 1623775182
All we need now is for Abbott to claim Mexico will pay for it.— Joseph Nobles (@Joseph Nobles) 1623370869
Will he get Mexico to pay for it? I swear, between the 1836 Project and this Wall nonsense, Greg Abbott is just a Trump tribute band.— Tim Graf (@Tim Graf) 1623415437
Abbott's comments come as a heat wave threatens the Lone Star State's independent power grid, potentially resulting in widespread outages like the ones seen earlier this year.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram