It is not a wall, it’s a fence.

We have repeated that mantra since work began on the wall that wasn’t a wall, it was a fence, and most of it was simply repaired fence or updated fence. Actually, to be perfectly accurate, “most” of it – meaning the border, went untouched under “Build a Wall” MAGA man himself. There were always problems with the two-dimensional solution to what is and remains, a three-dimensional problem. But weren’t we at least entitled to think, “If they are going to build something, can’t the U.S. Government build it right?”

Our aircraft carriers seem to be pretty cool.

Would a fancy fence be that big a problem? Why yes, yes it is a problem, because when you build shitty, things, whether they are office buildings, steaks, universities or walls that are not walls, but are fences, they are not going to survive in entirely predictable circumstances like… summer monsoons, which – as you’ll be shocked to learn, happen annually, sometime between mid-June and mid-September (Perhaps, hence the name?), along the Arizona-Mexico border.

It turns out ignoring bedrock environmental laws may not have been the best choice for a multibillion-dollar construction project. Photos show former President Donald Trump’s border wall in deep disrepair after summer monsoon rains literally blew floodgates off their hinges.

The damage took place near San Bernardino Ranch, a historic site that sits between Douglas, Arizona, and the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge. Much of the West is suffering through a deep megadrought, but the monsoon rains that have swept across parts of the Southwest this summer have doused the southern half of Arizona with record-setting rains. Douglas has seen nearly double its average monsoon season rainfall so far, including a blast that came through on Monday and unleashed flooding on the Arizona-Sonora border. The National Weather Service data shows 2.15 inches (5.5 centimeters) of rain fell, which in turn funneled into washes and drove flooding.

Okay, okay, so it’s not a “normal” monsoon. Indeed, it’s a record-setting one, so maybe we need to acknowledge that. On the other hand, we are willing to be that when it comes to our aircraft carriers, there are discussions about what to do in very heavy seas. We suspect that very few of these discussions occurred about the wall that wasn’t a wall, it was a fence, because it was always about symbolism anyway. They simply needed something that says “We don’t want you.”

Our tax dollars…

Trump's Border Wall Torn Apart by Arizona Monsoon Rains https://t.co/CYBnpq7U9C

— Jacqueline Dimartino (@Ladyjackson65) August 22, 2021

In that sense, the record-breaking monsoons are also perfect symbolism because, while our government always said one thing (Keep out), our business community sent a different message (Apply here). Almost too symbolically, that message includes Trump businesses, that hired undocumented immigrants just like every other of its size. The symbolism is now complete. The border is open because it was always somewhat open. Unless one wanted to shut down the entire agricultural, tourism, and food industries in the west, we need immigrants, always have. The MAGAs just pretended we didn’t.

Just like Trump pretended to build a wall. It wasn’t a wall, it was a fence.

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