W(all)TF?

“We informed the White House this morning that I will not attend the work meeting scheduled for next Tuesday.” That was Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto letting the world know he had canceled his planned trip to the US over Trump’s insistence on building a wall, and further insistence that Mexico will pay for it. The message was delivered via a tweet, and was (of course) met with counter-tweets from the Oval Office. Social media spats and flame wars now have serious diplomatic ramifications. What were once harmless exchanges between a couple of bad hombres can now cause geopolitical shifts. (Sometimes I think the whole Trump presidency is part of a secret plot to save Twitter.)

+ “If we’re going to be spending on things like infrastructure, we’re going to find the fiscal space to pay for that.” Paul Ryan says Congress will pay for the wall. Is the who will pay for it? discussion squelching out the broader question: Do we want or need a wall? (Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants from Mexico are way down.)

+ In response to Pena Nieto’s snub, Trump just called for 20% tax on imports from Mexico to pay for the wall. (He also threw some of his toys at Mexico.)

+ The current US Border Patrol Chief just stepped down after being asked to resign.

+ No one can accuse Trump of hiding the fact that he planned to build the wall. Reveal looks back at how he’s described it.