Trump considers declaring a phony national emergency to build his wall

Today Trump claimed he will seize large swaths of land from private citizens at gunpoint and declare a “state of emergency” to build a wall without Congressional approval.

In the face of tyranny, Republicans are outraged … by a freshman Member of Congress using profanity.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) January 4, 2019

I assume this is just talk. If it’s not, Trump would be provoking a constitutional crisis that would lead to resignations of senior officials, not just civilian but also military if he sought to use the military illegally, and the start of impeachment proceedings. https://t.co/oSJSMzaZJC

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 5, 2019

.@MichaelSteele: People just put your pants back on and calm down. The fact of the matter is, there is no national emergency… No terrorists are coming across the Mexican border… We've got to get #Trump out of our head when it comes to this issue. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/qhkqbrjE1P

— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) January 5, 2019

Emergency powers offer a broad array of tools that would otherwise be unavailable to the executive branch. Some are highly potent and subject to abuse, while others are already being misused as convenient fixes to non-emergency problems. https://t.co/8iTLx6m1L9

— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) January 5, 2019

A core principle of the Tea Party and the broader “constitutional conservative” movement has always been that if he wants to the president can declare a state of emergency and undertake an illegal $20 billion construction project complete with seizures of private land.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 5, 2019

President Trump apparently imagines that declaring a national emergency to get his border wall built would allow him to govern by barking commands rather than by throwing tantrums. https://t.co/3bQTdMwfZb

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) January 5, 2019

No, @realDonaldTrump, you can’t declare “emergency” to build vanity wall. BTW, want to know what’s a real emergency? Poverty & inequality in America. 4 in 10 don’t have $400 to deal w/ emergency. 3 richest ppl have as much wealth as bottom 50%. Shameful. https://t.co/QA6UDRqQZj

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) January 5, 2019

Factual basis for a national emergency:

-Violent crime DROPPED according to latest FBI data.

-Property crime also DROPPED.

-Immigrants, both documented a
& undocumented, commit LESS CRIME than native-born Americans.

Courts would strike down this @realDonaldTrump power grab. https://t.co/sCNKBmCLIl

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 4, 2019

President Trump, yesterday: "We can call a national emergency….I may do it….I am allowed to do that."
Well, it's reassuring that the Justice Department is under the control of a respected and Senate-confirmed attorney general who'd never acquiesce in something like this.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 5, 2019

If POTUS is willing to continue the shutdown for “months, even years,” isn’t he conceding that building a wall really isn’t an emergency? 🤔

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) January 5, 2019

When you push reckless policies that squander our resources, defy our values, leave 800,000 federal workers unpaid and millions of Americans without needed services, you don’t need to declare a national emergency.

You are the national emergency.

— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) January 4, 2019

Having covered the Tea Party very closely, I just tried to imagine the reaction if Obama threatened to use emergency powers like this, and my head exploded. https://t.co/roHofVh1Uz

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 5, 2019

Trump lies when he says a lot of terrorists are coming through the border with Mexico

Another Trump lie. Sad!

"The State Department last year offered an estimate of how many terrorists had entered the United States by crossing the border with Mexico: zero." https://t.co/wGSGAd6pTC

— Tyrel Linkhorn (@TyrelLinkhorn) January 4, 2019

Of those apprehended between 1975-2017, 7 special interest aliens who initially entered illegally were convicted of planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. All entered illegally from Canada or jumped ship in American ports, not through our southern border #Mexico https://t.co/JPwMRWH8Pn

— (((Menna Schewitz))) (@mennake) January 4, 2019

Pompeo’s own State Department: “No credible information that any member of a terrorist group has traveled through Mexico to gain access to the United States.”https://t.co/No2G2vy801 https://t.co/kfykN4Gw1e

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 4, 2019

STEVE SCALISE repeats claim that “Over 3,700 known or suspected terrorists tried to enter” the US in 2017.

The State Dept. says there is “no credible information that any member of a terrorist group has traveled through Mexico to gain access to the US.”https://t.co/buF0Vs4Dsl

— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) January 4, 2019

"To our inquiry in April 2018, Nicole Thompson, a @StateDept spokeswoman, said by email that the judgment that no terrorist had traveled through Mexico to gain U.S. access still held."
-via @PolitiFact https://t.co/OGjSFjRfo6

— amna (@IAmAmnaNawaz) January 4, 2019

Thread: https://t.co/BWvX8OFMK9

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) January 4, 2019

You can’t negotiate with Trump

First, he signaled he would sign the continuing resolution passed by the Senate which did not include money for the wall. Then, pressured by Fox News, he said he wouldn’t.

The Vice President floated the idea of compromising in $2.5 billion for the wall. Then Trump said he wouldn’t do it.

Trump would have had a deal last year with $25 billion for the wall in exchange for taking care of the DACA immigrants and others but then he decided he wouldn’t do it.

Trump believes in winning. That means someone will lose. This deal will require a compromise where both sides get something and give something. Trump does not appear to be willing to give anything.

Why should the Democrats give in? The wall is a poor idea – there are better ways to protect the border. Polls show the public does not want the wall. Only the Trump cult, which is a minority, wants it. The public blames the Republicans for the shutdown which is correct when both houses of Congress and the White House were controlled by them. Trump doesn’t care about the people hurt by the shutdown. He says, with no factual basis, that the employees are mostly Democrats. Trump only cares about his cult members, not the whole country.

Federal workers should be used as political pawns by Trump. Democrats will pass continuing resolutions and Trump should sign them. McConnell is gutless and won’t bring up a bill similar to the one previously passed.

Trump’s non-stop lying doesn’t help either.

“We’re not interested in having show votes in the Senate,” McConnell says on the floor, railing on House Dem plans to reopen the government as “partisan show votes.” The proposal Dems will take up tomorrow is one Senate Republicans have floated to Trump, who has rejected them

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 3, 2019

Pres. Trump doesn't sense the urgency to end this government shutdown because he chooses not to see or hear the Americans he is hurting. Tribal communities. Farmers. American public servants. The men & women who clean offices his government inhabits. There are no winners here. https://t.co/CeVYTYjWxG

— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) January 2, 2019

Nancy Pelosi: "Tomorrow we will bring to the floor legislation that will open up government. It will be based on actions taken by the Republican Senate … led by Senator Mitch McConnell." Via ABC. pic.twitter.com/WSzXBAZ6Xy

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 2, 2019

When you report that McConnell refuses to take up the bill to reopen the government, be sure to mention every single GOP Senator already agreed to it.

— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) January 2, 2019

I've had this feeling that the GOP will allow this shutdown to go for weeks in order to then say, "See? Who needs government anyway!" https://t.co/gczpWEgozd

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) January 2, 2019

Trump told Pelosi today that she should understand the importance of a wall because she is a “good Catholic” and Vatican City is surrounded by a wall, per two people familiar with meeting. She did not agree. Here’s a story about his claim. https://t.co/uG5FrotXLX

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 3, 2019

This is not accurate. https://t.co/FAjouNOeGB

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 2, 2019

White House officials called reporters unprompted over the Christmas holidays to tout the $2.5 billion offer and blame the Democrats for not taking it. https://t.co/sT93WiXBNm

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 2, 2019

McConnell won’t take up his own bill. Why? Because he is more loyal to Trump then he is to the country https://t.co/jbGLWPInOB

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) January 2, 2019

At WH, Schumer said publicly that he asked Trump point-blank in the Sit Rm today for 1 good reason not to accept bill reopening all gov agencies other than DHS. Source familiar says POTUS responded: "I would look foolish if I did that."

— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) January 2, 2019

Trump lies at his cabinet meeting

Trump defended Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, too. Which side is he on?

With his statement today about Afghanistan, Trump has finally bested Bluto's analysis of World War II

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) January 2, 2019

Trump, in cabinet meeting now past hour mark, has:
-lied about illegal immigration stats
-disparaged/claimed to have fired his most respected cabinet member
-dismissed stock market losses as a "glitch"
-complained about Romney not being a "team player"
-praised the wheel

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 2, 2019

Jeff Mason is tweeting from the Cabinet meeting, and the president does not seem to be doing much saying of true things. https://t.co/sGHI475uM6

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 2, 2019

. @pewresearch study in November said there were 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in 2016, down 1.5 million from 2007 https://t.co/dlxKiMIc3H https://t.co/yqd6ZyYuzM

— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) January 2, 2019

Fox is now showing Trump's comments at Cabinet. He begins the clip by saying he's "heard numbers as high as $275 billion" for how much the U.S. loses per year from illegal immigration. That's a number he himself made up in the last month.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 2, 2019

It seems impossible, but it's true: President Trump just endorsed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Who's he working for? https://t.co/vRMfr3hQ8W

— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 2, 2019

Trump says that Russia was in Afghanistan because terrorists from there were going into Russia. He’s confusing it with Chechnya. Also says that Pakistan is there and should be fighting. It is—it’s promoting the Taliban which has been fighting against the US and its allies. 🤦‍♂️ https://t.co/eH39OTLs0H

— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) January 2, 2019

Trump falsely claims Mexico is paying for wall, demands taxpayer money for wall ahead of meeting with Democrats https://t.co/Ws2l9ZTjOT

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 2, 2019

Pres Trump kicks off new year w/a Cabinet mtg 12p.

7 out of 21 Cabinet positions currently filled by someone in an “acting” capacity:

Chief of Staff (Mulvaney), AG (Whitaker), SecDef (Shanahan), Amb to UN (Cohen), EPA (Wheeler), OMB Director (Voght) & Interior run by DepSec

— Karen Travers (@karentravers) January 2, 2019

The wall is a poor idea

It wouldn’t work. Trump lies and says it’s already being built.

🤔actually, zero! https://t.co/Fup3VRruPh

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 11, 2018

Polls show the majority does not want Trump’s wall

It’s only a priority for the Trump cult.

Two in three Republicans would rather see a shutdown than Trump compromise on the border wall.

from the article:

“The survey by Marist for NPR and PBS shows that 57 percent of Americans think Trump should compromise to prevent gridlock, and 69 percent say building a border wall should not be a priority. But 65 percent of Republicans do not think Trump should compromise, even if it means a shutdown, and 63 percent say building a wall should be a top priority. ”

ICYMI
Building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico should be:
An immediate priority for Congress 28%
Not an immediate priority 19%
Not a priority at all 50%
(NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, 11/28 – 12/4/18)
more: https://t.co/y7sFCxMUS3

— PollingReport.com (@pollreport) December 12, 2018