GOP congressmen pretend they watched wall construction at the 'border'

A group of Republican congressmen visited an Arizona site over 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and lied to their constituents and social media followers that they were witnessing construction of Trump’s border wall at the “border.”

“The Wall is being built!” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) claimed Tuesday on Twitter. He included a photo of himself looking at a mixing truck and a segment of a fence as well as another photograph of that construction site.

Gaetz also tweeted a video of himself at the site with the caption, “I’m on the southern border of the United States in Arizona.”

“Reviewing construction at the border,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) tweeted and also included a video of himself at the site.

“Glad to be at the southern border,” Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) wrote.

They were not on the border. They were not witnessing construction of a wall on the border.

The members were visiting a demonstration of wall-building technology and prototypes put on by Fisher Industries, an Arizona-based construction company. Over the last year, company CEO Tommy Fisher (a frequent Fox News guest) has donated thousands to Republican candidates.

Troy Hayden, a reporter for the local Fox affiliate who covered the event, noted that it took place in Coolidge, Arizona.

Coolidge is over 100 miles from the border.

The other Republicans who went along with Gaetz and Johnson were not as deceptive about their trip. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy noted that they were “surveying border wall construction options,” not witnessing construction of “the wall,” as Gaetz falsely claimed.

Pennsylvania Rep. John Joyce also acknowledged the men were merely on a “tour” of Fisher’s facilities, while North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer tweeted that the exhibit was a demonstration of wall-building technology.

The conservative Washington Examiner also reported that the Republican lawmakers had observed a demonstration of the technology, and that the Army Corps of Engineers has not selected a final company for the project — which still won’t be funded, thanks to congressional Democrats.

“We’re not doing a wall,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in January.

Nevertheless, Trump and his fellow Republicans continue to cling to the racist dream of constructing a massive wall on the southern border.

It isn’t surprising that Gaetz was the ringleader of the faux visit. He is one of Trump’s most visible and serially ridiculous congressional allies, who openly admits that he sees protecting Trump as his first priority.

“I don’t know how I’d fit into this place in the absence of the president,” Gaetz said in an interview with Buzzfeed.

He has proposed nonsense legislation designed to attack Democrats Trump particularly dislikes in an obvious attempt to further work his way into Trump’s good graces. The Florida congressman has also flirted with running for Senate — in Alabama — to better help Trump. He spoke up for Russia’s election meddling, rather than condemn the rogue nation for interfering in America’s political process.

He even publicly threatened a congressional witness out of a misplaced sense of priorities oriented around defending Trump.

Gaetz’s eagerness to help Trump in whatever way he can seems to know no bounds. So pretending he was at the southern border (he wasn’t) to witness the construction of a wall that does not exist is part for the course.

And it was all a lie.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.