Parker: The only thing secure with border wall is Trump’s ego

And, no, people won’t make adjustments when they can’t. For the four out of five American workers who live paycheck to paycheck, there aren’t many ways to adjust.

Thirdly, no, they don’t understand what you’re doing because it makes no sense. Trump’s purely extortionist maneuver — hand over $5.7 billion for a wall or I’ll furlough everybody — doesn’t actually make the U.S.-Mexico border a “national emergency,” as Trump has considered declaring so he can access disaster funds for his wall.

Finally, though some off-payroll folks may agree that border security needs tightening and may even support some sort of new barrier, the pertinent question hasn’t been properly posed: Would you still support the wall if it meant that you’d indefinitely be unemployed or continue working for no pay? Do I hear a You betcha? Didn’t think so.

Trump’s imperviousness to others’ misfortunes is by now legendary. What other president would toss rolls of paper towels to hurricane victims? But then, narcissists see only their own suffering, always someone else’s fault, and empathy is for schmucks.

The wall, meanwhile, is subterfuge for his personal fulfillment. Once envisioned as a massive concrete wall with a “big, beautiful door” — perhaps a monument to the Trump brand — it lately has morphed into a hodgepodge of found objects: metal slats here, some cyclone fencing there, here a bit of steel — and over there, maybe, a bit of papier-mache.

The specter of the hyped-up Central American caravan that kept hysterics busy with images of terrorists, rapists and body snatchers seemed to vaporize after the midterm elections. Now that 2020 is up for grabs, The Wall Must Go Up.

A lack of facts

Meanwhile, facts rarely furrow the president’s brow. Fact: The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico has decreased over the past decade by 1.5 million, says the Pew Research Center. Fact: The number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. via Canada, nearly half of them Mexican, has increased by 142 percent since 2017, according to CBS News. For about $300, Mexican citizens can fly to Toronto or Montreal without need of a visa and then relatively easily sashay into the U.S.

Would Trump shut down the government for a northern wall?

Of course not. This is because “Build the Wall” and “Mexico will pay for it” were campaign slogans created by a guy who never expected to become president. Now that he faces possible rejection, the wall has become a metaphor for his identity, his very being-ness. To fail would be to suffer narcissistic injury, which, given Trump’s immaturity and predilection to punch back, could lead to a real national crisis. As he said, he’d be proud to shut down the government — and keep it shut down for months or years if need be.

All for that stupid wall.