You can’t make these things up. President Donald Trump compared Mexican immigrants to “professional mountain climbers” while perusing border wall options in California on Tuesday, March 13.
“Getting over the top is easy,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “These are like professional mountain climbers. They are incredible climbers.”
He continued, “They can’t climb some of these walls. Some of them they can.”
Trump also suggested that the United States needs a see-through border wall, NBC News reports. “If you didn’t have walls over here, you wouldn’t even have a country,” Trump added.
The president criticized California’s governor Jerry Brown during his first visit to the state since being elected, saying Brown is doing “a very poor job running” California. “The place is totally out of control,” Trump claimed, before slamming sanctuary cities. “California’s sanctuary policies put the entire nation at risk. They’re the best friend of the criminal.”
Trump has long promised to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and first spoke of the plan when he announced his presidential campaign in 2015. He said of the country at the time, “They are not our friend, believe me … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
The president’s comments about Mexico come on the same day that he announced Rex Tillerson had been replaced by CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state. “Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job!” Trump tweeted. “Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations all!”
