Here are two ideas Trump should consider if he can't get a wall. In fact, if he were to abandon the wall and pivot now, he could keep his base AND take away ammunition from Pelosi and Schumer. Stephen Miller would be fired or quit, and Ann Coulter would be none too happy, but take a look at these ideas and see how you like them:

1. Alex Nowrasteh at Cato has proposed creating a new visa category, the "gold card." After paying a tariff or tax, visa holders would be able to live and work legally in the U.S. Citizenship would not be an option. Tariff rates might vary by age and education, so that all visa holders would make a net positive contribution. This would give the government additional funds to go after real criminals.

2. The IDEAL (Immigration Designed to Enhance Lives) policy. Two million visas would be handed out each year, a mix of five-year visas at $25,000 each and one-year visas at $2,500 each. The former is mostly for high-tech workers, the latter for low=skilled and seasonal work. The fees might seem high, but they are actually quite low compared to the huge fees high-tech companies have to pay for H1B visas, and the bureaucratic hoops that real estate developers and landscape companies have to go through to obtain workers. This plan is estimated to bring in $70 billion annually, more than enough for a wall, or to make up for any negative impact of immigration.

Onward and upward,
airforce