December was alive with border wall posturing. A few points along the way:

Trump met, fruitlessly, with Chuck and Nancy. And Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn “[knew] of no plan” (here).

The President promised the “Beautiful” wall was still coming (here).

The Donald promised he was “totally prepared for a very long shutdown” (here).

The Commander-in-Chief tweeted a pic of a fence, and people lost their minds (here).

Lindsey Graham promised to open a can on Democrats (This was a good one! Revisit it here).

As per James Carville, Chuck Schumer went Full Colonoscopy (here).

Fast-forward past a bunch of ping-ponging and Democratic daffiness, and Thursday morning, Trump announced he planned to sign a bipartisan bill declaring a national emergency and lending a limited chunk o’ change to the construction of a barrier.

But according to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade later Thursday, President Trump’s actually found $8 billion to fund his border barricade.

Kilmeade enlightened the FNC audience:

“Of course, today was dominated by many stories, one of which was the bipartisan budget bill for border security. And the big number is — that the president was not happy with — was $1.375 billion to build a border barrier. He could do whatever he wanted with it. The question was, ‘Would the president add something with that? Would he declare a national emergency?’ I just got off the phone with Mick Mulvaney, chief of staff, and the answer is a resounding ‘Yes.’ Now, for the first time, you will hear how much it is and where the money is coming from.”

And here comes the big money:

“It’s going to be about $8 billion. He had the $1.3 [billion], then $600 million will come from the Treasury, the Treasury forfeiture front. $2.5 billion out of [Department of Defense]. They consulted with Mick Mulvaney and the White House over the last few months on what they could actually do, and they are going to use some money they feel they can spare on the drug interdiction account. Then they came across with $3.5 billion for the military, the military construction budget.”

That’s a lot more than 1.3.

“They feel they can help in that respect. And then, of course, they have additional money. It all adds up to $8 billion. So the $1.375’s not enough for the President. He wanted $5.7. He walks away at the end of the day with $8 billion and, of course, the Democrats and some Republicans are upset about that.”

$8 billion would do nicely for now. If Brian Kilmeade is right, we’ve turned a consequential corner.

Stay tuned.

-Alex

Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here, here, here, and here

See 3 more pieces from me: Huckabee hammers Pelosi, a pro-life proprietor commemorates a “day of mourning,” and Antifa goes to war.

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