On Thursday afternoon President Donald Trump, prior to his remarks on the passage of the Farm Bill, first addressed the funding of the wall and the collapsed deal on the continuing resolution to keep the government open, a situation that will come to a head in the next 24 hours, and doubled down on his intent to allow the shutdown should the wall not be funded.

“A nation without borders is a nation not at all, said Trump, and said that without them we have “the reign of chaos, crime, cartels and believe it or not, coyotes.”

Trump spoke about human trafficking and drug smuggling, echoing remarks by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testifying before congress earlier on Thursday.

“At this moment there’s a debate over funding border security and the wall. Also called, so that I give them a little bit of an out, steel slats.” said Trump. “We don’t use the word wall, necessarily, but it has to be something special to do the job. Steel slats.”

“I have made my position very clear, any measure that funds the government must include border security. Has to. Not for political purposes but for our country, for the safety of our community,” he said, doubling down on that vow, which he also offered personally to Rush Limbaugh. “This is not merely my campaign promise, this is the promise every lawmaker made. It is the solemn promise to protect and defend the United States of America and it is our sacred obligation. We have no choice.”

The president spoke favorably of China’s crack down on drug trafficking and institution of the death penalty for some drug crimes. He mentioned terrorists trying to gain access to the U.S. ‘every day” and the plight of children at the border and on the journey to it. “Yet the Democrats continue to oppose border security no matter how many innocent people get hurt or die,” he said.

“Our nation has spent trillions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of brave young lives defending the borders of foreign nations. I am asking Congress to defend the border of our nation for a tiny fraction, tiny fraction of the cost,” he said. “Essential to border security is a powerful physical barrier.”

“Walls work, whether we like it or not. They work better than anything,” said Trump.

Watch the clip above, courtesy of Fox Business Network.

[Featured image via screengrab]

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