By Emma Campbell
Elm Staff Writer
On Friday, Feb. 15, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the Mexican border in hopes of gaining access to billions of dollars that Congress has refused to grant him to begin construction of a border wall, the New York Times reported. President Trump announced his decision in a brief appearance, during which he addressed a variety of unrelated topics including the economy, Chinese trade deals, Kim Jong-un, Ann Coulter, and the Nobel Prize (particularly, how much he and the President of Japan think he deserves one).
e president defended his decision after being accused of manufacturing a national crisis. “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster. I just want to get it done faster, that’s all,” Trump said in response to allegations of violating the Constitution.
Comments of this nature have been condemned by many Democrats and Republicans Congresses, who vow to overturn the president’s declaration.
“This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, said in a shared statement.
In a letter obtained by Politico, Pelosi called on Members of Congress to support a bill aiming to “terminate this emergency declaration.” Representatives had until 3 p.m. on Feb. 25 to sign a resolution written by Congressman Joaquin Castro that would put an end to the resolution by using the termination mechanism within the National Emergencies Act.
It is comforting to know that the majority of Congress is prepared to move swiftly against Trump’s declaration. e president’s statement that he “didn’t need to do this” is definitive proof that the border wall is just one of his most pointless obsessions, and not the national emergency he claims it to be. For this reason, le -leaning attorneys are delighted by Trump’s wording.
The president’s blasé attitude surrounding his announcement has caused a lot of publicity. But in comparison to Trump’s past blunders, his most recent actions have not startled the nation quite as acutely as they would had they been made in past administrations.
Trump’s presidency is one riddled with choices that prompt everything from eye rolls to full-blown protests. His declaration will do nothing to achieve the outcome he wishes for, but it will certainly be marked as one of the most brazen abuses of presidential power in history.
If President Trump declared a national emergency on gun violence, homeless youth, hate crimes, or any other real emergency, perhaps he wouldn’t yet again and himself cast in the role of world’s biggest laughingstock. The more he speaks, the more he incriminates himself, and he will soon and himself trapped in a prison of his own design.