Border Wall GoFundMe Appears On Billboards In Texas
The GoFundMe campaign to fund President Trump’s border wall has now raised $19.7 million from more than 328,000 people in its first 23 days. The campaign has continued to raise funds as the government shutdown continues and the president fights with Democrats in Congress over funding for border security.
Now, the campaign is being advertised on billboards. A pair of billboards on I-40 in Amarillo, Texas, is promoting the campaign, featuring its URL WeFundTheWall.com.
According to local TV station KAMR, the billboard campaign was funded by Randy Burkett, owner of Burkett Outdoor Advertising. Burkett had already donated to the campaign itself.
“Well with his background, you know he served and everything he’s lost, a triple amputee, it caught my eye,” Burkett told the station, in reference to organizer Brian Kolfage. “I mean if he’s willing to spend his time on this and he’s having some success doing it, I didn’t mind getting behind it at all.”
Amarillo is in the northern part of Texas, which is hundreds of miles from the Mexican border.
While the campaign is one of the most successful crowdfunding efforts in recent times, it’s still facing several hurdles. The $19.7 million figure raised so far is far short of its $1 billion goal, which itself is much less than a wall would actually cost. Trump, in the current negotiations, is seeking more than $5 billion and has asked for more than $20 billion in previous negotiations. And, according to the Inquisitr, some legal experts have questioned whether the campaign is legal at all.
The website is linked to the GoFundMe page started by veteran Brian Kolfage to raise the funds to build President Donald Trump's border wall along the U.S.-Mexico southern border.https://t.co/tug5aKHuML
— ABC 7 Amarillo (@ABC7Amarillo) January 8, 2019
In addition, the pace of fundraising for the Kolfage GoFundMe has slowed. While it drew more than $1 million a day in its early days, the campaign has raised just over $1 million in the last week, as it stood at $18.5 million a week ago.
The effort has also fallen short in terms of signatures. The GoFundMe page states that the campaign needs 100 million signatures, while the WeFundTheWall website currently lists only 3.5 million. And while a bill has been introduced in Congress in order to allow the government to collect the GoFundMe money, that bill is unlikely to move forward now that the House of Representatives is controlled by a Democratic majority.
President Trump attempted to make the case for a border wall in a nationally televised address from the Oval Office Tuesday night. However, a poll released by Politico Wednesday found that 47 percent of voters blame Trump for the shutdown, while 33 percent blame Congressional Democrats for the impasse.
