Trump is visiting the border to claim success on his wall. But it’s a big failure — over budget, behind schedule, and a waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.

Trump has claimed over and over that he is a great builder. But like everything else he’s touched, his border wall is over budget and behind schedule.

TRUMP: “I’ll build it on time, on budget. It’ll be a very high wall, a great wall. It’s going to be built.”

Mother Jones: “In Trumpian fashion, the project has been characterized by cost overruns, lawsuits, sycophantic contractors, and a notoriously ineffective (and incomplete) final product.”

Trump failed to get Mexico to pay for his wall. Instead, he shut down the government and stole billions from military construction projects.

TRUMP: “I am proud to shut down the government for border security. … I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.”

Washington Post: “President Trump is preparing to divert an additional $7.2 billion in Pentagon funding for border wall construction this year … The Pentagon funds would be extracted, for the second year in a row, from military construction projects and counternarcotics funding.”

Trump demanded $18 billion from U.S. taxpayers to build a section of the wall, after promising he could build the entire wall for $4 billion.

Washington Post: “Trump once told Americans that a border wall, paid for by Mexico, would cost $4 billion. After that, he said $6 billion or $7 billion, and later $10 billion. Now his administration says it’s really $18 billion for 722 miles of wall, of which just 316 miles would be a brand-new structure along the 2,000-mile southwest frontier. Oh, and Mexico’s credit card seems to be missing.”

Trump dished out overpriced contracts to GOP donors for construction of the wall and he wants to waste billions painting his wall black.

Washington Post: “The Defense Department’s inspector general’s office will audit a $400 million border wall contract that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded to a North Dakota construction company run by a GOP donor whom President Trump repeatedly urged military officials to hire.”

Daily Beast: “BFBC, a reliable contributor to Republican politicians, has gotten over $1 billion in taxpayer money in less than a year to build a mere 37 miles worth of wall.”

Washington Post: “Trump is once more pushing to have his border wall painted black … [with] costs ranging from $500 million for two coats of acrylic paint to more than $3 billion for a premium ‘powder coating.’”

Trump claimed he could build a 2,000 mile border wall in one year. It’s been over three years, and only about 3 additional miles of the border have a wall. 

TRUMP: “We can build the wall in one year, and we can build it for much less money than what they’re talking about. … I build under budget and I build ahead of schedule.”

CNN: “The administration has billed Tuesday’s trip as a celebration of the completion of 200 miles of new wall system… Of those, roughly three miles have been constructed in areas where no barriers previously existed.”

Trump’s wall is ineffective and vulnerable to being sawed through or climbed over.

Washington Post: “Smugglers sawed into new sections of President Trump’s border wall 18 times in the San Diego area during a single one-month span late last year.”

Washington Post: “Some of the smugglers deploy lightweight ladders made of rebar, using them to get past the ‘anti-climb panels’ that span the top of the barrier.”

CNN: “Newly installed panels from the US border wall fell over in high winds Wednesday, landing on trees on the Mexican side of the border.”