Conservative commentator Ann Coulter said that President Trump is “dead in the water” if he does not secure the funds needed to a build a border wall.
Coulter told HBO that she continues to support the president during the government shutdown and said it raises the profile of the conversation about immigration and national security, especially at the southern border, Newsweek reported Wednesday.
“More Americans die from drug overdose every year than died in the entire course of the Vietnam War, and the vast majority of those drugs are being brought in because we have a wide open border,” Coulter said. “I care more about that than I care about the Yosemite gift shop being open.”
The partial shutdown, which in its fourth week, has set the record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history and impacts hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
Previously, when it appeared that Trump was going to sign a bill to keep the government open that did not include funding for a physical barrier, Coulter said she would no longer support Trump and not vote for him in 2020.
“No. Nor will, I think, most of his supporters,” Coulter said when asked if she would support Trump if wall construction did not begin. “Why would you? To make sure, I don’t know, Ivanka and Jared can make money? That seems to be the main point of the presidency at this point.”
At the time, Coulter said Trump’s presidency would be a “joke” if he did not build the border wall.
“It is self-preservation,” Coulter said in regards to the question of why Trump won’t budge on securing border wall funding, adding, “because he is dead in the water if he does not build that wall. Dead, dead, dead.”
