Military Will Be Used To Protect Border

[Dill]

(04-05-2018, 11:17 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Do you expect any POTUS to know the exact cost of such an operation this early into the planning process? 

You can either answer directly, continue to post generic "I don't like Trump responses", or post a meme

Welcome back, Bfine.   

You speak of a "planning process" supposedly in its early stages.  Two quick points:

1. The WH staff is set up to provide quality information on short notice.  Would it take 200 million dollars or 1.1 billion to move 2,000 National Guard to the border to conduct surveillance for two months? That would be quite a difference in cost. The president has at his disposal people who could have that data in 4 hours or less. It is not a question of EXACT cost, but it is a question of having an estimate BEFORE deciding on the operation. CERTAINLY BEFORE ANNOUNCING IT. That is part of sound policy process, just as it is for building a house. Every architect knows he cannot provide an exact cost and every architect expects unforseen costs--but he will have an estimate long before he begins building, especially if his budget is accountable to a 3nd or 3rd party.

2. A step in planning would normally include consideration of alternatives, like what if the money allotted for moving all those troops to the border were instead sent directly to those agencies, Federal and state, already patrolling the border, and who can already legally arrest people? Unlikely that any planning would even begin without preliminary consultation of state enforcement.

The manner of Trump's announcement suggests there has been no "process" at all, with his own people surprised, not to mention federal and state agents on the border. This happens often, and often Trump has to walk back an impulsive announcement once more knowledgeable people explain the difficulties and consequences (e.g., his recent spur-of-the-moment decision to pull of Syria "soon" to the horror of his generals).

A further consideration--your assumption that it is somehow NORMAL for a president to know nothing of the cost of such an operation before talking to the press or tweeting about it illustrates the divide between people who give Trump a chance and people who "just hate Trump."  Would it be fair to say that you don''t see the spectacular incompetence on daily basis, and so assume the drumbeat of Trump critique just flows from personal dislike, rather than from Trump's actual unfitness for office?