Don’t we already have a transparent wall?

President Donald Trump’s proposal for a transparent wall along the U.S.-Mexico border may not be far-fetched. Problem is, that wall already exists.

KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross wrote last week that Trump’s newest proposal for a transparent wall – one seemingly nothing like the “impenetrable, tall, powerful” one he campaigned on in 2016 — provides another example of the president skirting promises to his base voters.

The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold joined Dave on Seattle’s Morning News Tuesday to share his thoughts on Trump’s recent comments. According to Fahrenthold, Trump’s call for a transparent wall isn’t too far-fetched – in fact, it’s an idea he’s heard before.

“The thing about the transparent wall, that actually is something that border patrol officers have said,” said Fahrenthold. “It makes sense, right? You don’t want a wall you can’t see through. If you’re trying to figure out who’s coming at you on the other side, who’s getting ready to smuggle something on the Mexican side, you want a wall you can see through. Which means bars, I don’t think it means Plexiglas like around a hockey rink.”

However, Fahrenthold adds that wall is already in place. It’s the type of wall the U.S. has in place in large parts of the border. And building a new one, one closer to Trump’s original proposal, could cost upwards of $40 billion, according to the MIT Technology Review. (Furthermore, according to Popular Science, adding those solar panels may actually do more bad than good for the environment.)

“This is him now going back to the wall that we already have in a lot of the places around the border rather than some new thing that he had promised.

“I don’t want to prejudge that,” Fahrenthold added with a laugh. “If the President does have a force field plan, I want to hear it out – may be kind of expensive, though.”

Listen to the entire interview here.