Tuesday night, President Trump will give an excellent State of the Union speech. It will be positive and proclaim all of the wonderful accomplishments of his administration. But, if the president wants to turn a home run speech into a grand slam speech, he will announce that, pursuant to the authority delegated to him by Congress in Title 10 of the United States Code, he is directing the secretary of defense to immediately begin construction on a border wall.
He ought to then outline specifics of our drug crisis and how our entire southern border is an active drug trafficking corridor. Democrats will squirm as their duplicity is called out. More than 70,000 deaths in this country are caused by drug overdoses — most due to opioids. Tens of thousands more are addicted, wreaking havoc on families and communities.
In 2017, tons of heroin and cocaine were seized coming across the southern border, and enough of the synthetic opioid fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in the country. The most recent example was this past week when 245 pounds of fentanyl and 395 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in Nogales, Ariz.
Trump could continue by talking about the humanitarian crisis of an open border that sees drug and human traffickers sexually abusing countless men, women, girls, and boys entering the U.S., according to Doctors Without Borders.
The president can discuss the devastation of the lives of the victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens, the gang members who cross into the U.S., and the high number of illegal aliens who comprise the violent offenders in our state and federal prisons.
By outlining the aspects of what an active drug trafficking corridor looks like, the Trump administration is in a strong position to immediately build a border wall.
Of course, the president will hit the highlights and successes of his administration’s policies. The economy is robust. More people than ever, of every ethnicity, are working. Almost twice as many jobs were created in January as were forecasted by economists.
The military has been rebuilt. America’s prestige in the world is ascendant. Relationships that were allowed to deteriorate under the previous administration, such as the U.S.-Israel alliance, have been strengthened and restored.
Foreign trading partners, particularly China, have realized that they can no longer take advantage of the United States.
The Democrats have tried to impede every policy of this administration but have specifically focused on trying to delegitimize Trump and his associates. Democrats have such personal animus against the president that they have iterated no policy ideas except the bizarre, such as raising personal income tax rates to 90 percent, passing government-funded healthcare with no way to pay for it, and passing voting laws that allow illegal aliens to vote — among a host of additional bad ideas designed to elect Democrats in unfair and nontransparent elections.
Trump might mention that Congress has failed to address the border crisis, and every day that we wait for the legislative branch to take action (that will never happen) is another day that thousands more illegally cross our border. He could also mention the three additional caravans heading to our border, being facilitated by the governments of Central America and Mexico, and responding to Democrats’ obstinate refusal to address this crisis. He should announce that we are suspending foreign aid to these countries until they help stop the flood of illegal aliens pouring into the United States.
Most certainly, he can rely on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s outspoken denial of a crisis and her failure to protect Americans by refusing to build a border wall.
Mentioning these things, and expanding on them, will be a home run for President Trump’s speech. But, if he wants to hit a grand slam, one that will go down as one of the best speeches in the annals of State of the Union addresses, he simply has to announce that border wall construction will begin the day after his speech.
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican, represents Arizona’s 5th District in Congress. You can follow him on Twitter: @RepAndyBiggsAZ.
