State of Emergency

 

So Li’l Donnie Trump, that ol’ Dealmaker In Chief, couldn’t close a deal with Congress to fund his border wall so he declared a National Emergency to build the wall anyway. 

So Donnie, petulant man-child that he is, didn’t get his way so he’s knocking over the game board when he can’t win playing by the rules.  While declaring a National Emergency is perhaps the most egregious example, this is not a new development for Trump. In his time in office, his victories through Congress have been few and born out of things the Republicans wanted anyway, like the big tax cut for the wealthy that got pushed through last year. 

Mostly, Trump mostly just sputters and frets, pulling out his box of crayons to sign off on executive orders to make it look like he’s doing something. But the man who’s photo and name adorn the cover of a book called “The Art of the Deal” has no single clue how to deal with Congress and that was when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. With Democrats in control of the House of Representative, all Trump can think to do is bluster through a litany of lies and insults.  

He can’t deal with Congress because Congress can’t deal with him. Trump’s concept of a deal is one way: Is he getting his way? He has nothing to offer, nothing to give.  

TRUMP: I WANT WALL!

CONGRESS: You can’t have a wall.

TRUMP: BUT I WANT WALL!

CONGRESS: You can’t have a wall.

TRUMP: WAAAAANT WAAAAAALL!

CONGRESS: You can’t have a wall.

Essentially, Trump’s negotiating “strategy” is to demand something the same way over and over and over again until the other side gets tired of it and gives in just to make Donald shut up. 

You know, the same way a toddler demands ice cream. 

But as much as it’s disturbing to see Donald Trump usurp power to get his way, its even more frustrating to see so called conservatives let him get away with it.  

The same Republicans who would be apoplectic with red-faced hysteria every time President Obama would so much as sign an executive order to declare so much as Cheese Danish Day are giving this overreach of power by Trump a free pass.  

You see, a cornerstone of political conservatism is to limit federal power to no more than is prescribed in the US Constitution.  The US Constitution does not give a lot of leeway to the Executive branch; the founding fathers fought a revolution to get us out from the under the oppressive thumb of one tyrant king; they certainly had no inclination to create our own king. 

One way to keep the President in check is to deny that person what is called “the power of the purse”.  In short, the President cannot willfully raid the Treasury to pay for a war or a domestic program or whatever damn fool thing that might enter the President’s mind. Congress controls appropriations. A President can only spend what Congress approves for him to spend.  

To wit: Trump asked for money to build a wall. Congress says no. That, as they say, is that. Or should’ve been.  

Except Trump makes an end run around Congress and the US Constitution be declaring a national emergency. 

That brings us to the National Emergencies Act of 1976. 

The National Emergencies Act seemed like a good idea at the time. If shit is going down, sometimes you need one person to pull the trigger on whatever resources that can be employed to deal with an emergency.  If a hurricane is bearing down on Florida or an earthquake is shaking up California, we can’t wait for an act of Congress to OK getting stuff done. In times of emergency, the President can direct government to do stuff without waiting for Congress. 

The problem is the National Emergencies Act of 1976 did not define what an emergency is.  


I guess the idea that the President of the United States would be a petulant, whiny, low IQ man-baby never occurred to Congress back in 1976 and that said man baby would decide that Congress was a bunch of mean pootie heads who won’t let him do what he wants to do and that constituted an emergency. 

That is not to say that Congress lacks any recourse. 

Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, Congress may pass a joint resolution to terminate the president’s declaration.  Trump can declare an emergency to get his hands on wall money; Congress can override that.

But will they? Look, we all know the Democrats will raise as much of a stink about this as they can but the Democrats only control the House. The Republicans control the Senate which shouldn’t matter worth a damn if they were true to the same conservative principles they dogged Obama with for 8 years. But Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, sniveling sycophant that he is, has stated his support for Trump’s actions. Other Republicans have either offered outright support for Trump’s actions or have voiced only the most vague doubts. One Senator could only bring himself to say, “I wish he hadn’t done that.”   


Republicans faced with the irredeemable antics of Donald Trump have often been accused of putting their party over the needs of the nation. With Trump’s end run around the US Constitution in a direct repudiation of the conservative principles that are supposed form the Republican Party, I’m not sure that can be said. 


Republicans faced with the irredeemable antics of Donald Trump are putting their personal power over the needs of the nation and of their party.