Last year, a wounded warrior named Brian Kolfage started a GoFundMe that struck fear and loathing in the hearts of every Trump hater in the country. Seeing that Democrats were going to stymie Trump at every turn and make it nearly impossible for the president to build the wall that he’d promised during the campaign, Kolfage decided to take matters into his own hands. He called on the president’s supporters to donate directly to his efforts to begin construction on the wall…privately. No help from the government. No approval needed from Congress. Just the kind of direct, plain, get-er-done mentality that built this country in the first place.
And donate they did.
Kolfage raised an astounding $20 million for the fund, proving – perhaps even more so than Trump’s election – that there are a great many Americans who want nothing more than to protect this country’s borders from an illegal alien invasion. Kolfage took the money, formed a group called We Build the Wall with conservatives like Kris Kobach and Stephen Bannon, and embarked on a mission to find private donors to boost the fund. Meanwhile, the group began seeking out property owners along the border and asking them permission to begin construction on their land.
And as CNN reports this week, that construction is underway:
We Build the Wall, a group founded by a triple amputee Air Force veteran, said in a series of social media posts on Monday that it had started construction on private property in New Mexico. The announcement comes months after the group began its GoFundMe campaign to raise private donations for a border wall, and days after a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from tapping into billions in Defense Department funds for his administration’s wall construction efforts.
“Buckle up, we’re just getting started!” the group wrote in a Facebook post, sharing what it said were images of construction over the weekend.
On Monday evening, a CNN team watched as heavy machinery rumbled over the site near the New Mexico-Texas state line near El Paso. Kris Kobach, former Kansas secretary of state and longtime immigration hardliner, spoke to CNN over the clanking and beeping of construction equipment.
“It’s amazing to me how crowdfunding can successfully raise a lot of money, and how many Americans care about this,” said Kobach, who’s now general counsel for We Build the Wall.
To be sure, this group’s efforts are not going to get us very far. We won’t insult them by saying this is mostly a “symbolic” effort, but they will need billions – not millions – to build up a wall that will actually start making a difference. Plus, plenty of the areas in need of protection are not owned by private citizens.
Eventually, the government will have to take this on. But if Kolfage’s project proves anything, it’s that this government – for the people, by the people, right? – should be doing just that. Hopefully, with the right result next November, Trump will finally be able to fulfill his #1 campaign pledge.
