"DOH! I wanna build me wall, so I gonna declare national emergency!"
"Mr. Trump's obsession with building a wall has caused him no end of political grief. He'll be lucky if this emergency declaration doesn't end the same way."- WSJ Editorial, 'Trump's Political Emergency'.
Recall in my January 7 post I cited Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey - after this hogswill first emerged, who declared: "There is no way this president or any other can invoke national emergency powers just to build a wall. No he cannot!"
I also pointed out Harry Truman's national emergency rush during the Korean War, to take control of the steel industry in 1952, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his executive order. They saw correctly there was no proximate connection between steel production and a North Korean instigated emergency that necessitated control of the steel industry by the government.
In the Truman case, his misplaced effort at declaring a national emergency was struck down because there was no constitutional basis or reasoning for it, just as there is none for Trump's - other than the humanitarian crisis he himself has manufactured.
Never mind. Earlier today, after Congress overwhelmingly approved a border security agreement that would prevent a second damaging government shutdown, Trump vowed to declare a national emergency to fund his moronic border wall with Mexico. (The border compromise was tucked into a 1,159-page spending bill that will fund the federal government through September, and appropriates $1.375bn for 55 miles of new fencing along the border.)
Worse, the spineless vegetable that calls himself a man and Senator - Mitch McConnell,
then burbled out of his ass, errrr.....guppy mouth:
“I’m going to support the national emergency declaration.”
Proving Mitch remains the Dotard's bitch in supporting his illegitimate power grab which will now surely end up in the courts . In any case, the National Emergencies Act of 1976, allows the Dem House to short circuit the move. Then a House initial vote to block Trump automatically triggers a Senate vote and there isn't a damned thing Mitch can do to impede it. No cowardly dodging from the Bitch or other gamesmanship, like we beheld with the shutdown and not bringing a vote to stop it to the Senate floor.
This is an important feature of the act. While it confers broad discretionary powers on presidents to decide whether an emergency exists, it also provides for a powerful check and balance against abuse. That is, Congress can end the declared emergency if majorities in both chambers vote for a resolution to do so. To keep a president’s partisan allies from bottling up such a measure, the law says that if one chamber (e.g. the House) passes such a resolution, the other one must bring it up for a vote within 18 days.
And only a few Repub Senators would be needed to block Trump's reckless, feckless imbecility. At the very least we'd see if these currently complaining Reeps will be prepared to cash the checks their mouths have already signed.
On the downside, that check-and-balance mechanism was severely eroded by a 1983 Supreme Court ruling. It held that to have legal effect, a congressional resolution must be presented to the president for signature or veto, like bills are. Never mind, there is still that opening by the Dotard of "Pandora's Box"!
Elizabeth Goitein, who oversaw a recent study of presidential emergency powers for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said that Trump’s move, if he indeed follows through, would be an abuse of power and set a precedent that risked making it “open season” for presidents to cynically claim that a national emergency existed to evade democratic constraints.
House speaker, Nancy Pelosi's reaction to Dotard's threat was blunt, straightforward, and correct:
“Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall.”
Adding:
"You want to talk about a national emergency – let’s talk about today,” noting that it was the first anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, which claimed 17 lives. “That’s a national emergency. Why don’t you declare that emergency, Mr President?”
And, confirming Republican fears, she said: “A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well.”
Make no mistake that Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency has ignited a new confrontation between the White House and Congress and may be the stupidest move he's ever made in the ongoing shitstorm of his derelict presidency. Indeed, to see exactly how this could backfire on the orange buffoon, check out Rachel Maddow's explanation:
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/emergency-declaration-could-backfire-force-republican-opposition-1443038275648
All this as a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers expressed concern with his use of executive powers. For example, Senator Marco Rubio said: “We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the constitution.”
He also warned that Trump was opening a door for a future Democratic president “to impose the Green New Deal”. Doh! Yuh really think so, Sherlock! Well you could also see a declaration of national emergency for gun control - especially after a new massacre occurs with a Dem President in power.
Stay tuned, folks and kiddies. The Trump Constitutional crisis - especially after Andy McCabe's latest revelations on invoking the 25 th amendment to possibly remove the imp- has just gotten a lot more severe.
See also how this reprobate almost caused another shutdown:
And:
by Robert Weissman | February 16, 2019 - 7:32am |
And:
by Cody Fenwick | February 16, 2019 - 7:48am | permalink
And:
by Robert Reich | February 16, 2019 - 7:53am | permalink
