Why Scott Walker wants to wall off Canada (and five things that might stop)
GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker on Sunday indicated that a wall along the US-Mexican border might not be enough physical protection for the nation. In response to a question from NBC鈥檚 Chuck Todd on 鈥淔ace the Nation,鈥� Governor Walker said that a fence along the northern, US-Canadian border is something 鈥渇or us to look at."
鈥淪ome people have asked us about that in New Hampshire,鈥� said Walker.
鈥淭hey have raised some very legitimate concerns, including some law enforcement folks that brought that up to me at one of our town hall meetings about a week and a half ago. So that鈥檚 a legitimate issue for us to look at,鈥� Walker added.
Is Walker trying to trump Trump? That may be the impetus behind his response here. The Wisconsin governor appears to be a casualty of Donald Trump鈥檚 rise, as his poll numbers have slowly deflated and his campaign has appeared to lack direction and energy ever since The Donald declared.
鈥淲alker has slowly fallen back into the pack of more than a dozen seeking the [presidential] nomination,鈥� .
Walker had expected to do well in the key caucus state of Iowa, for instance. It鈥檚 a Wisconsin neighbor and its GOP electorate skews conservative, like Walker himself. But he鈥檚 now tied with Ted Cruz for third in Iowa, with eight percent of the vote, according to the latest . Trump leads, with 23 percent, and retired surgeon Ben Carson is second, at 18.
In an effort to jump-start his stalled effort, Walker has adopted a number of Trump鈥檚 high-profile positions. In particular, he鈥檚 talked much tougher on immigration, saying that Trump鈥檚 plan to bar and deport undocumented immigrants is similar to his own.
Even Trump hasn鈥檛 paid much attention to the nation鈥檚 northern border, however. In raising this issue, Walker鈥檚 out there, alone. Is that sound you hear Walker supporters face-palming?
鈥淐omments like this strike many Walker loyalists as too focused on chasing the hot issue of the day,鈥� of The Washington Post.
This doesn鈥檛 mean there aren鈥檛 serious US-Canada security concerns. Since 9/11, the northern border has been increasingly militarized with surveillance cameras, drone over-flights, and tighter passport control at crossing points.
But experts estimate that only about two percent of the people who enter the US illegally come via Canada. Better coordination between US and Canadian law enforcement and immigration authorities might be the best way to handle the existing problem, . A fence might be impractical, given that the northern border is three times longer than the southern one.
But what if, against all odds, such a fence went up? After all, the Canadians might help erect it 鈥� they鈥檙e very nice, and they have lots of concerns about what聽the US is exporting to them.
In that spirit, here are five things the fence might stop:
Undocumented maple syrup.聽 is in essence controlled by a government cartel. Sometimes rogue producers or outright thieves ship their products to the US. Let鈥檚 stop this possibly inferior pancake sweetener at the border.
笔辞耻迟颈苍别.听A Canadian dish of French fries and cheese curds covered with gravy. Is it food or wall paste? The jury is out.
奥补苍苍补-叠颈别产别谤蝉.听Justine Bieber, an Ontario native, has already infiltrated US music. It鈥檚 too late to stop him, but maybe a fence will keep the next generation of Bieber wannabes out of the States.
Rob Ford.聽Next to Rob Ford 鈥� the former mayor of Toronto 鈥� Donald Trump looks like Aristotle. Ford has admitted smoking crack 鈥減robably in one of my drunken stupors," for instance. We鈥檝e got enough problem politicians, thanks.
Cold. Canadian weather is a security threat to the US. Have you seen those huge cold fronts massing at the border in winter weather maps? They鈥檙e just itching to pour down and freeze US pipes from Maine to Maryland. If we build the fence high enough, maybe we can block the cold out. Boston 鈥� the next Fort Lauderdale.聽
