There's no sign that congressional Democrats are even considering giving Trump money for his fantasy border wall and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been more clear than Trump on the matter, but even if Trump received funding for his wall there's plenty of reason to think it would never become a reality.
According to experts in construction estimation who spoke to the Washington Post, it would take more than 10 years to build a wall that tracks more than 1,000 miles.
The current fight — and now 20-day federal government shutdown — over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall could look simple when you consider the logistics of actually building the fabled barrier: It would take an estimated 10,000 construction workers more than 10 years to build the kind of 1,000-mile wall President Trump has said he wants.
Even the more modest $5.7 billion in wall funding Trump directly requested during a prime time Oval Office address Tuesday to address what he called “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” would take an army of 10,000 workers more than two years to build and yield only 230 miles of barrier, according to estimates.
And even at 1,000 miles long, the steel-slatted border wall would still be too small to be a boon for U.S. steelmakers.
A 10-year-long effort to build a steel barrier like Trump has called for in recent weeks would reportedly only account for half of 1 percent of demand for steel over that time period. And, moreover, Trump's tariffs on foreign metal have added a least $1 billion to cost estimates for his wall.
Now, obviously, Trump is not going to be the "president" in 10 years and I personally don't even believe he will be in 2 years.
That doesn't mean we should give him money for his wall to shut him up and reopen the government. This just demonstrates the futility of his efforts.