“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
— Donald Trump, presidential announcement speech, June 16, 2015
A shock not just in the US but all over the world, “build the wall” became a staple topic for Trump’s presidential campaign. But now that the US President-elect has released a video on his policy plans for his first 100 days in office, the wall seems nowhere to be in the picture.
The nearly-three-minute video released on Monday shows Trump’s effort to go soft on his promises while he tries to bring far-right advisors on board for the White House. The only immigration policy element featured was Trump speaking of legally cracking down visa fraud.
So what did the video have on offer? Trump built his agenda on creating wealth and jobs in America whether in the form of “producing steel, building cars, or curing disease.” He wants to regulate trade and energy policies in a way that there are “millions of high-paying jobs”.
Sounds like acche din for the United States of America. Meanwhile, Trump’s silence on his controversial promises is quite similar to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cast-aside promise of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Trump earlier spoke about the wall and immigration in his first interview after winning the elections, where he said that fencing may be an option besides building the wall. At least Modi took two-and-a-half years to officially backtrack. Trump? He hasn’t even been sworn in yet.
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