The pledge to build a “great”, “beautiful” southern border wall was a cornerstone of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign. This paper analyzes Trump’s border wall project as an example of performative statecraft, suggesting that the wall works better rhetorically, than as a barrier against unauthorized cross-border movement. Identifying Trump’s performative statecraft as “entrepreneurial”, we argue that his border wall discourse differs from that of earlier presidents in the way Trump meshes the performance of the border wall as a protective device with his own performance as an entrepreneur and developer. Trump’s border wall discourse accentuates his personal skills as an entrepreneur, and makes these skills relevant to his key campaign promises: to “Make America Great Again”, and defend the nation against transnational crime. Despite Trump’s radical reformulation of US asylum policy, enhanced pursuit of unauthorized immigrants, termination of Obama-era programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and disturbing but short-lived family separation and ‘Zero-Tolerance’ detention scheme, the border security policies of President Trump are not as novel as his promotional campaigns would have us believe. In fact, Trump’s border control strategies have continued many of the measures introduced by earlier presidents. The novelty of the Trump presidency lies in the strong focus on the new US–Mexico border wall, and fervent attention to the physical attributes and instrumental functions of the wall. Much more than a fence, Trump’s proposed border wall is a grand, awe-inspiring monument to national security, and to Trump’s entrepreneurial statecraft. It also works as a visual aide for Trump’s plan to “Make America Great Again”. Border walls stand as testimony to the power of the state, and the determination of those who defend it. Trump’s border wall would be no exception.

修建“伟大”，“美丽”的南部边界墙的承诺是唐纳德·J·特朗普2016年总统大选的基石。这篇论文分析了特朗普的边界墙项目，作为表现力政治家的一个例子，表明该墙在言辞上比阻止未经授权的越境运动的屏障更好。我们将特朗普的表演艺术视为“企业家”，我们认为他的边界墙话语与早期总统的讲话方式不同之处在于，特朗普将边界墙的表现作为保护工具与自己作为企业家和开发商的表现相结合。特朗普的边界墙话语强调了他作为企业家的个人技能，并使这些技能与他的主要竞选承诺相关：“让美国再次伟大”，并捍卫国家免受跨国犯罪的侵害。尽管特朗普激进地重新制定了美国庇护政策，加大了对未经批准的移民的追捕，终止了奥巴马时代的计划，例如《推迟儿童抵达行动》（DACA），以及令人不安但短暂的家庭分居和“零容忍”拘留计划，边界特朗普总统的安全政策并不像他的宣传活动所希望的那样新颖。实际上，特朗普的边境控制策略延续了前任总统采取的许多措施。特朗普总统任期的新颖之处在于，它非常关注新的美墨边境墙，并高度重视该墙的物理属性和工具功能。特朗普提议的边界墙不仅仅是栅栏，它是国家安全和特朗普企业家治国方略的宏伟，令人敬畏的纪念碑。它也可以作为特朗普“使美国再次伟大”计划的视觉助手。边界墙是国家力量以及捍卫国家力量的决心的见证。特朗普的边界墙也不例外。