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The Democrats have maintained a stalwart collective spin in the face of Trump’s incessant demands to fund his idiotic border wall and, since they now control the House of Representatives, the president has no way to legitimately get what he wants. Instead, the Democrats have forced him to settle for some meager “border security” funding, which will not include the wall.
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As Trump prepares to sign the funding bill to avoid another disastrous shutdown, it appears he is once again entertaining the idea of declaring a national emergency, possibly in order to abuse his powers as commander-in-chief and send troops to the Mexican border to construct his xenophobic vanity project.
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Unfortunately for Trump, it may end up being harder than he thinks. According to ABC’s Jonathan Karl, the Department of Justice has sent a warning to the Trump administration that the president’s emergency declaration will most likely get blocked by the courts when he rolls it out.
As it gets legally tied up, Trump will have to wait to build the wall, essentially defeating the purpose of declaring the emergency in the first place.
If that happens, we could face a serious constitutional crisis as Trump will be forced to choose between obeying the courts, or forging ahead and testing if the military obeys his orders despite the courts. Things could get very ugly, very fast.
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SCOOP: DOJ has warned the White House an emergency declaration is nearly certain to be blocked by the courts on at least a temporary basis, preventing immediate implementation of the president's plan to pay for the wall. However, WH believes they can ultimately win on appeal.
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) February 14, 2019
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already announced that he will support Trump’s flagrantly authoritarian power grab, proving once again that the Republican Party is more than willing to endorse overt fascism if it means they can get some of their preferred policy outcomes. Trump delivered the tax cuts to billionaires that are the lifeblood of the parasitic, plutocratic GOP and so they’re willing to let him get away with just about anything.
It cannot be stressed enough what a dangerous precedent it will set if Trump follows through and declares a national emergency when none exists. It shows a shocking disregard for the separation of powers and pushes the American presidency closer to a dictatorship.
Although it hardly needs pointing out, it’s worth reflecting at least briefly on the fact that if a Democratic president were to exploit his or her powers in such a fashion the Republican Party and its conservative media apparatus would have an unprecedented meltdown. The party of “small government” only cares about its so-called principles when they can be weaponized against Democrats.
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Chuck Grassley gets extremely angry & starts yelling when he's asked to yield the Senate floor in the middle of his speech. @senatemajldr McConnell then announces that Trump plans to sign the government funding bill and declare a national emergency at the same time. pic.twitter.com/7r3wNJzwAM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 14, 2019
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has already responded to Trump’s fabricated national emergency, once again proving that she is ten times the leader that Trump is.
She dismissed the fake border emergency and pointed out that there is a real emergency going on in America, and it’s the gun violence epidemic that the GOP refuses to confront. As usual, she is absolutely correct and the fact that today is the one year anniversary of the tragic Parkland school shooting only reinforces her point. She also alluded to the idea of a Democratic president using the precedent Trump is about to set to declare an emergency to address gun violence, a threat that is sure to terrify Republicans.
Watch the clip below.
"You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today. The one year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America. That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? … A Democratic president could." pic.twitter.com/NDvhb339aT
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 14, 2019
