John Oliver Does The Math On Trump’s Wall [VIDEO]

The Daily Beast recaps:



On Sunday’s edition of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver demolished Trump’s silly wall plan. “The border wall is one of the few policy proposals Trump has talked about in detail, so instead of mocking or dismissing it out of hand, tonight let’s take a serious proposal by a serious presidential candidate seriously,” announced Oliver.

Trump initially said the border wall would cost $4 billion—though that estimate has grown to $12 billion—would be made of “hardened concrete,” “rebar,” and steel,” and would be anywhere from 35 to 55 feet in height. But according to Oliver, $12 billion doesn’t even come close to what this monstrosity would cost.

If we work with the lowest estimated height, 35 feet, and The Donald’s suggested length, 1,000 miles, experts say it would run $10 billion for the concrete panels, $5 billion to $6 billion for the steel columns plus labor, $1 billion for concrete footing for the columns and a concrete foundation, $2 billion to build roads so 20-ton trucks can deliver the materials, and an additional 30 percent for engineering, design, and management. So that’s $25 billion already, and that’s just building the wall.