Flanked by many of his administration’s top border officials and Republican elected leaders, former president Donald Trump made a historic visit to the Texas border, his first public appearance there since ceding the White House to current Democrat occupant Joe Biden.
“The border has never been this way,” Trump said during the visit. “It went from the best border we’ve ever had in the history of our country … the best ever by far…”
The much-hyped visit stood in stark contrast to the trip last week by Vice President Kamala Harris, who was ballyhooed for visiting a low-traffic area as the current administration’s border crisis continues to see an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants.
Prior to visiting the border, Trump participated in a border-security briefing alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, slamming the “sick” state of affairs, according to pool reports.
“You could have completed the wall in a couple of months,” he said. “The wall worked—it really worked.”
Abbott has pledged to use Texas funds and private donations to complete as much of the work as possible.
Trump noted that he had managed to fulfill much of his signature campaign promise during his administration, despite nonstop efforts by left-wing activist groups and partisan Democrats to thwart progress on the wall.
“We built almost 500 miles of wall despite two-and-a-half years of lawsuits, litigation … and we won the suits and we started,” he said.
One of his final trips as president was to visit the Rio Grande valley in January to celebrate the achievement and commend border and law-enforcement officials for their valiant efforts.
But half a year later, the situation looks far bleaker after Biden made it a top priority of his incoming administration to roll back Trump’s successful policies.
Despite the current administration’s claims that it was addressing the crisis diplomatically by funneling support funds to impoverished Northern Triangle countries in Central America, Abbott said during the briefing that illegals flooding across hailed from 150 different countries around the world.
He called it a “far more dangerous situation” than when Trump was in office, exacerbated by the fact that Biden and Harris were “misleading America.”
At least three other officials spoke at the briefing.
Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez said his department was turning up considerably more dead bodies of migrants attempting to cross than it had during Trump’s administration.
But when faced with the new challenges, law-enforcement simply could not do anything more on its own to fix the problem.
“We just don’t have the resources,” Martinez said.
Trump also spoke on an array of other hot topics during the briefing. That included reiterating his criticisms of last year’s election, in which evidence of rampant fraud and abuse continues to surface.
On Wednesday, news was breaking that New York City’s Democrat mayoral primary was the latest debacle to sow confusion over the outcome after the far-left city attempted to implement a new ranking system and handle a large number of absentee votes.
Trump issued a lengthy press statement earlier in the day criticizing it, and another one glibly comparing it to his own.
“The New York City Election, even though an embarrassment and total mess, is far better and more accurate than my 2020 Presidential Election—so what are people complaining about!” he wrote.
In Texas, new reports also surfaced Wednesday about audio evidence of a massive ballot-harvesting operation conducted by Democrats in Houston.
Trump also endorsed Abbott for re-election during the visit but noted that the governor did not need the help due to his through-the-roof poll numbers.
He acknowledged and praised the efforts of state Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying he would soon make an endorsement in that race.
At least two Republican candidates are challenging Paxton, a strong Trump supporter who became a leader in the fight to challenge the disputed 2020 election outcome.
Paxton’s most prominent primary rival is George P. Bush, the son of former Trump rival Jeb Bush and only member of the powerful Bush dynasty to have publicly backed Trump.
