Republican elected officials are blaming the Biden administration for a seasonal influx of migrants at the southern border, and many of them are still clinging to former President Donald Trump's campaign promise of a giant wall as a solution to unauthorized border crossings.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced this week that he'd be releasing a crowdfunding effort to build the wall in his state.
Abbott said on the Ruth Less podcast:
"When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States — really everybody in the entire world — who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute."
The Governor painted a rosy picture of the effort, but others remembered a similar campaign that ended in disaster.
Avowed white nationalist and former Trump official Steve Bannon was arrested on his yacht last year after officials discovered that portions of the $25 million raised for his online funding effort, We Build the Wall, went toward personal expenses.
Bannon was eventually pardoned by his former boss, Trump, in the last days of his administration.
With Trump no longer in office, Abbott won't have that same hope if the funds generated from donations go misused.
People thought the effort reeked of Bannon.
TX Gov Greg Abbott is going to ask for public donations to fund the border wall. Isn't that what Steve Bannon got i… https://t.co/pl2zwdKgq7— Amy Lynn ✡️🐿️ (@Amy Lynn ✡️🐿️) 1623775502.0
Didn’t work for Steve Bannon but I guess Abbott is gonna try. https://t.co/qb6n6hpYoJ— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1623773266.0
How did that work out for Steve Bannon after I reported on WeBuildTheWall's graft? https://t.co/NPNYfaGUlD— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@Grant Stern is fully vaccinated) 1623776228.0
Texas governor Abbott asks for private donations to fund his border wall. When people donated millions to build Tru… https://t.co/vCjlF0Hg75— Alfons López Tena (@Alfons López Tena) 1623777784.0
It's curious that Abbott, Bannon, or anyone is eager to crowdfund border wall funds, considering that Trump long-promised Mexico would pay for the chimeric undertaking.
Thanks, Gov. Abbott, but that’s just another version of “Mexico will pay for it.” How about making sure veterans in… https://t.co/9TUNEoPc2y— Barbara OToole (@Barbara OToole) 1623775182.0
@lulujb520 @1SnoozyQ @PatrickSvitek @GovAbbott All we need now is for Abbott to claim Mexico will pay for it.— Joseph Nobles (@Joseph Nobles) 1623370869.0
@susandtom Will he get Mexico to pay for it? I swear, between the 1836 Project and this Wall nonsense, Greg Abbott… https://t.co/QmbqbZnD4G— Tim Graf (@Tim Graf) 1623415437.0
Abbott's comments come as a heat wave threatens the Lone Star State's independent power grid, potentially resulting in widespread outages like the ones seen earlier this year.