White House Holding Meetings About Border Wall During Pandemic, Trump Still Wants it Painted Black Despite Huge Cost: Report

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President Donald Trump has reportedly been holding meetings about the southern border wall amid the coronavirus pandemic, and is set on painting it black.

According to the Washington Post, which obtained “government contracting estimates,” the president “has not let go of the idea” of painting the border wall black, despite a predicted $500 million cost to the paint job, “insisting that the dark color will enhance its forbidding appearance and leave the steel too hot to touch during summer months.”

“During a border wall meeting at the White House last month amid the coronavirus pandemic, the president told senior adviser Jared Kushner and aides to move forward with the paint job and to seek out cost estimates,” the Post reported, citing “four administration officials with knowledge of the meeting.”

The Washington Post further reported that “military commanders and border officials” have tried to talk President Trump out of the idea to no avail, and “consider the black paint unnecessary, costly and a significant long-term maintenance burden.”

It was previously reported in May 2019 that President Trump wanted the border wall “to be painted black with spikes” on top because he thinks the current wall is “ugly.”

According to two New York Times reporters, President Trump has also privately “talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators,” and has “wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh” — claims the president has called a “lie.”