Donald Trump to send the National Guard to the Mexican border, but nobody really knows why.

Courtesy of Time:

The Trump administration says it is working with governors to “immediately” deploy the National Guard to combat illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday that DHS and the Pentagon will be working closely with governors in the affected states. 

She says that deployment will be done as expeditiously as possible and that Guard troops could begin heading to the border as soon as Wednesday night. 

Trump announced his plan to send the military to the border during a meeting with Baltic leaders Tuesday. 

Trump has been frustrated by Congress’ refusal to fund building a wall along the length of the U.S. border as well as an increase in illegal border crossings.

Border crossings are down significantly,  which was also true during Obama's second term, so what exactly is the excuse for sending the national Guard, at a huge cost to taxpayers, to the Mexican border?

Some suggest that Trump is simply irritated that Ann Coulter is calling him out on Twitter.

But if that is true than this decision clearly did nothing to change that.

Are they going to shoot the illegals? Just standing there doesn't do a thing. We need to do what Israel does: immediate detention and removal. https://t.co/byXxDbG2po

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 4, 2018

That's right to make the Crypt Keeper's daughter happy you actually have to murder immigrants coming across the border.

There are those arguing that this is nothing new and that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama sent the National Guard to the border.

This is technically true, but the circumstances were different:

Amid a series of protests on both sides of the immigration debate, President Bush sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border in 2006. The troops were deployed to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while new recruits were being trained and help with the installation of fences and vehicle barriers. They were not, however sent to directly engage in law enforcement activities.

“The United States is not going to militarize the southern border,” Bush said at the time. “Mexico is our neighbor, and our friend. We will continue to work cooperatively to improve security on both sides of the border … to confront common problems like drug trafficking and crime … and to reduce illegal immigration.”

And then during Obama's first term:  

President Barack Obama authorized 1,200 National Guard troops be sent to the Southern Border two years after Jump Start ended in 2010. According to a 2010 report from the New York Times, Obama was facing pressure from lawmakers to boost security at the southern border after a prominent rancher was allegedly killed by a smuggler. During what was known as Operation Phalanx, which lasted about a year, some 14,000 pounds of drugs were seized and 7,000 people were apprehended.

In 2011, the head of Arizona’s National Guard told the Washington Post that his soldiers primarily served as “eyes and ears” at the border. “We don’t chase anybody,” said Maj. Gen. Hugo E. Salazar.

The combined cost of those operations to the taxpayers was a whopping 1.35 billion, and the evidence suggests that neither one made a significant difference.

Bush's seemed to be a show of force to please his supporters, while Obama was more or less boxed in by the death of that rancher.

Trump's decision really appears to be more of a tantrum about not getting his wall than anything else. 

His overriding directive seems to be that if Congress will not let him waste taxpayer money building an unnecessary wall, then dammit he will waste taxpayer money sending the National Guard to the border instead.