US President Trump Declares National Emergency to Fund His Wall

[irontaino]

Trump has decided to declare a national emergency to secure his wall funding after his defeat by Congress.

Trying to regain momentum after losing a grinding two-month battle with lawmakers over funding the wall, Mr. Trump asserted that the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants from Mexico constituted a profound threat to national security that justified unilateral action.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said in a televised statement in the Rose Garden barely 13 hours after Congress passed a spending measure without the money he had sought. “It’s an invasion,” he added. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”

But with illegal border crossings already down and critics accusing him of manufacturing a crisis, he may have undercut his own argument that the border situation was so urgent that it required emergency action. “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster,” he said. “I just want to get it done faster, that’s all.”

So he needs funding for a fake emergency. It's already being challenged by courts. Of course, the cult of sycophants is cheerleading for him through this whole debacle, blissfully unaware of the precedent it sets if it goes through: any future president will be able to declare emergency for issues such as gun control or healthcare. A link to a transcript of his speech. Whoever was saddled with the job of transcribing that rambling, barely coherent mess deserves a vacation.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

A serious question: Can this president alone decide, if there is a scenario for a usage of nuclear weapons?

[conon394]

Technically as I understand it yes. There is the precedent the James Schlesinger (Sec Def) ordered the joint chiefs to confirm any such order from Nixon with either himself or Kissinger (at the time Nixon was breaking down). I suppose also the joint chiefs lacking any attack and given US policy against first use could say it was an illegal order not sure on that one, or agree to all resign. But legally by the books black and white there is no check.

Whoever was saddled with the job of transcribing that rambling, barely coherent mess deserves a vacation.

I could not bring myself to listen. If you are going to attack the Constitution for a made up situation you coal have a bit of gravitas and dignity. I read a few excerpts really his aids have no for him not willing write a short concise speech? And then I don't tranquilize him before he rolls onto ramble mode.

[TheDarkKnight]

"I didn't need to do this"

Then it's NOT A ING EMERGENCY YOU ILLITERATE VEGETABLE.

"China doesn't have a drug problem. I asked President Xi, 'Do you have a drug problem?' and he said, 'No, we execute drug dealers.' And if it wasn't for me, our economy would go into the tank! Believe me, China is down 40%! We're not, we're going totally strong!"

What the ?

Captain Alzheimers strikes again!

[Gaidin]

A serious question: Can this president alone decide, if there is a scenario for a usage of nuclear weapons?

Yes. One is a military deployment. The president gives the order and they launch. Short of Nixon’s historic context anyway.

The other is in some sort a national ordeal to be dealt with depending on the context. National emergencies tend to be a redeployment of funds and otherwise elite units to where they are determined to be needed. Congress can counter or contest this legally.

[TheDarkKnight]

I am assuming (hoping...) the joint chiefs would refuse if he tried to use our first strike capabilities. It would be the right thing to do on all counts and no one wants to go down in history as letting a lunatic do that.

Keep in mind Trump clearly has some form of mental deterioration...There isn't even a question on that. I doubt he remembers the codes everyday despite protocol.

[95thrifleman]

Trump isn't stupid here. He knows this will be challenged until it gets to the supreme court, which is stacked in his favour right now.

[TheDarkKnight]

I highly doubt Roberts will side with him on this and Roberts is the current swing vote.

Any one of them that chooses to side with him on this just exposes the fact that they are partisan hacks that need to be removed when it becomes possible. There is no ing emergency and Trump admitted as such in his speech.

This is just Trump throwing a tantrum about the fact that after 3 weeks the bipartisan effort came back with less money than before and looked like they were ready to override a veto, which is what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED in December.

But of course that ing coward McConnell didn't want to go against the base. What a hypocritical douche.

Edit: And even if it DOES get past the Supreme Court the lawsuits will tie this project up for years. It's a move on his part to make it look like he won when all he did was set a precedent that the GOP will regret supporting when the tide turns against them. Because you can be damn sure that a Democratic president can (and should) use this power to enact universal health care as the deaths from healthcare-related issues far, far FAR outweigh any crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

We are a ing laughingstock of the world right now and it is nobody's fault but the GOP

Also...Ann Coulter called Trump an idiot for this.

For once I agree with that hag. Of course she probably disagrees with him because she thinks minorities should be shot out of the country via cannon but...little victories.

And a bonus...a timeline of this emergency


January 2017 - GOP Majority + an idiot President put into office
January 2017 - Wall not an emergency
February 2017 - Wall not an emergency
March 2017 - Wall not an emergency
April 2017 - Wall not an emergency
May 2017 - Wall not an emergency
June 2017 - Wall not an emergency
July 2017 - Wall not an emergency
August 2017 - Wall not an emergency
September 2017 - Wall not an emergency
October 2017 - Wall not an emergency
November 2017 - Wall not an emergency
December 2017 - Wall not an emergency
January 2018 - Wall not an emergency
February 2018 - Wall not an emergency
March 2018 - Wall not an emergency
April 2018 - Wall not an emergency
May 2018 - Wall not an emergency
June 2018 - Wall not an emergency
July 2018 - Wall not an emergency
August 2018 - Wall not an emergency
September 2018 - Wall not an emergency
October 2018 - Wall not an emergency
November 2018 - Wall not an emergency
November 2018 - Democratic majority elected in House
Early December 2018 - Wall not an emergency
Late December 2018 through January 2019 - Shutdown for no reason
January 2019 - Democrats take majority in House, ending the possibility of GOP enacting policies.
February 2019 - NON-EMERGENCY EMERGENCY

Yep.

Definitely looks like an emergency.

[Coughdrop addict]

Because you can be damn sure that a Democratic president can (and should) use this power to enact universal health care as the deaths from healthcare-related issues far, far FAR outweigh any crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

And gun control, fighting climate change, and most important of all, protecting our country from the Russian threat.

[TheDarkKnight]

Climate change and healthcare should not present any problems at all. There is nothing against the constitution about that so even the most hypocrtical of Republicans (a bit redundant I suppose) can't really argue against it.

Gun control would be an entirely different beast. I would not envy the judge(s) that ultimately rule on that one. We will get riots and unprecedented violence from Yokel Haram all across the more rural parts of the country if gun control were enacted.

I'm not too keen on full gun control anyway...I'm planning on getting myself one soon because I'm not exactly confident on the mental stability of MAGAterrorists if Donnie Moscow gets removed from office, no matter how.

[Alastor]

Just let Trump build his stupid wall already. The amount of money it will cost simply doesn't compare to the damage this whole wall nonsense has done to the US. The shutdowns, the polarization, the distraction from more pressing matters. Why turn the wall into this grand ideological fight? It's not the first time the US fences up the border. Why waste so much political capital on it and turn it into Trump's do or die? For 5-6 billion? I don't think that's worth the damage.

[TheDarkKnight]

Thing I have learned while working in education, even for only a short time, is that you do not give in when the child starts crying, or they will never stop crying to get what they want.

Trump has had everything handed to him his whole life and has never had to struggle for anything. He is USED to being given what he wants, whenever he wants it.

He became president because he had aspirations of dictatorial power, and didn't realize that if the Democrats got a foothold into one of the chambers that he would need to play nice. The last 6 weeks has shown he does not like that.

He can't be given this victory because a line needs to be drawn. There is no "political capital" anymore regardless...The Republicans are not here to play ball anymore. Their shenanigans, incompetence, and immaturity in the House over the last month and a half has shown that.

So, in short...don't give candy to the crying baby.

Again, it was not an emergency until the Democrats got into power in the House.

[Alastor]

Trump is not a crying baby. The very fact you even call him that betrays extreme bias. Trump is the president of the United States of America.

The Democrats gained power in the midterms yes. Trump will not have as easy a time pushing his policies yes. But is the wall really that important an issue for the Democrats to spend so much political capital on? Will it really better the lives of their voters if the wall is not built? To the point where it's worth the longest government shutdown in US history? I sincerely doubt that.

In my opinion Trump and the Democrats are both being petty here. The Democrats found a way to hurt Trump and they are going straight for the jugular, to hell with the consequences. It's mere partisanship. Or rather extreme partisanship, kinda like your own description of Trump as a crying baby is. But I think the truth of the matter here is that if they really want to convince they have the moral high ground, that they care about the people, then they need to pick their fights better. That 5 billion wall is just not important enough.

[TheDarkKnight]

If you worked with kids you would know the comparison is appropriate. I am not exaggerating when I say I have seen kids as young as seven with greater emotional maturity than Trump. The man simply does not understand how to cope when presented with a situation where he does not get his way. And that is pathetic. Defending him is even more so.

He may be impersonating an elected official in the office of the president, but he is a far cry from a respectable POTUS.

Democrats were elected into office to stop Trump's madness. The wall is part of that madness. It will NOT accomplish anything he promises it will, and is throwing five billion dollars towards nothing. It is nothing but an empty bone to throw towards his increasingly rabid, racist, and inane base.

The funny thing? Democrats offered him 25 billion dollars for the wall, everything he needed, a year ago. All they asked for were protections for Dreamers. And he and the Republicans turned down the very modest compromise. Them turning down that compromise has led to every single shutdown in the past year.

The GOP and Trump have no moral or ethical high ground on this debate anymore. It is THEIR win at all costs style that has held us back for the past 3 decades. A wall, a monument to his ego, is not worth giving him. He needs someone to tell him no, because otherwise he is surrounded by bootlicking sycophants.

So yes. Denying Trump any opportunity for a victory is essential. And his decision to ignore Congress on the wall issue shows the reason why. Him using a national emergency on what HE HIMSELF said is not an emergency when illegal immigration is down to levels not seen since the sixties is the path of madness.

And again...he will lose anyway. He will be long out of office by the time the border wall actually gets going (if it ever does) and will hopefully be stopped by the next president.

[Alastor]

So you are saying I am defending him because I'm reminding you of simple facts? Reminding you he is president makes me pathetic? Well, I would call that another example of your extreme bias. Also you are not his psychiatrist, you can't tell me you have seen kids with greater emotional maturity because you don't know and can't know the level of his emotional maturity. And Trump is not impersonating an elected official in the office of President, he IS an elected official in the office of president. He won the elections and became president just like (almost) all other presidents before him.

And again, you are seeing the cost of the wall in a very single-minded fashion. Fine the wall costs 5 billion dollars. But how much did the shutdown cost the US economy? How much has the increasing lack of social cohesion cost and will continue to cost? How many other issues, more important issues have faded in the background of all this noise and how much will the cost of that be? Now I don't have numbers for all that, but I sincerely doubt it will be less that 5 billion.

I never said Trump has the moral high ground. I said the Democrats don't either. Like you say they offered him even more money when they couldn't hurt him, in return for a policy he has agreed to back now for less money. So doesn't that show pettiness? Now that they are in a position of power they can press harder, but for what? Not the good of the people obviously. Just their own petty party gains. As for the emergency. Trump is the president. He wants to declare an emergency? He can. It's not even his first one. It's up to the courts to say otherwise. When another president is eventually elected and he wants to scrap the wall, that will be up to him and the government of the time. But the one Bush built is still around is it not? Because yes, there is already a fence on the border that cost already an amount of the same order of magnitude as the one Trump is asking for.

[Muizer]

Looks like US democracy is in its death throes. I mean, it can only work if participants rate its principles higher than party politics. But for some time now (late 90's at least) it seems both sides are trying to find 'alternative methods' to win. It's bad enough if the judiciary gets dragged into it all the time, this is taking it to a whole new level.

[hellheaven1987]

I don't see why wall is bad...

[Katsumoto]

Trump is simply getting things done - it's what he was elected to do. He should be praised for his bravery.

Trump Base Celebrates President For Standing Up To Constitution

WASHINGTON—Enthusiastically praising the commander-in-chief for holding firm in the face of opposition, Donald Trump’s political base cheered on the president Friday for standing up to the U.S. Constitution. “He stayed strong and really showed the Constitution who’s boss,” said 48-year-old Trump supporter Ross Heddens, applauding the president’s bravery and determination in taking on the document that represents the social contract through which all authority vested in the U.S. government is ultimately derived. “No fundamental system of laws is going to get in his way. Trump has shown that he won’t allow mere constitutional articles—not even the ones that explicitly delineate which powers are granted to which branches of government—to stop him from doing what he has pledged to do. That’s how tough he is.” Members of Trump’s base went on to urge the president to continue standing his ground by ignoring any future rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that may seek to prevent him from fulfilling his campaign promises.

https://politics.theonion.com/trump-...ons-1832659448

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Now or never is the time for a impeachment.

[Vanoi]

Trump is simply getting things done - it's what he was elected to do. He should be praised for his bravery.



https://politics.theonion.com/trump-...ons-1832659448

Did you mean to link to the Onion? Or are you posting this as satire?