Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

[Broomstick]

Is there truly no end to how shitty you can get away with being in American politics so long as you have the right 20~ percent of the electorate permanently on your side?

We never really had to find out before.

Actually, we have, but I suspect most of the people on this forum were not alive in 1974.

[The Romulan Republic]

In that case, Republicans finally did turn on Nixon. We're still waiting for that to happen here, for the most part.

In more positive news, Pelosi seems to possibly be warming to the idea of impeaching Trump:

https://www.today.com/news/nancy-pelosi ... nt-t146197

She regards the legality of indicting a sitting President as undecided. She is noncommittal on impeachment, saying that it would be "sad and divisive" and we should neither do it or refuse to do it for political reasons, and while I find that a bit of a chickenshit answer, given that that Trump has already been implicated in multiple felonies which means that there is a perfectly justifiable non-partisan reason for impeaching him, its good to know that she isn't flatly ruling it out like she appeared to be prior to the Midterms. She basically is taking the stance that the Dems will wait to see what Mueller finds. Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like she's waiting to see if he brings forward something damning enough to convince some Republicans to switch sides, allowing Trump to actually be convicted in the Senate.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Note no President has ever been removed from office through the impeachment process, and only two Presidents(Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) have ever bern impeached.

I'd wager Pelosi, who sat in Congress during Clinton's impeachment, has a point.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, this one needs to be.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/house-dem ... -1.4967263

White House officials and congressional staffers were continuing negotiations Saturday over the government shutdown, even after U.S. President Donald Trump declared he could keep it going for "months or even years."

Trump met Friday with congressional leaders from both parties as the shutdown hit the two-week mark amid an impasse over his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico. Democrats emerged from the meeting, which both sides said was contentious at times, to report little if any progress.

Trump has designated Vice-President Mike Pence, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and adviser Jared Kushner to work with a congressional delegation at Saturday's meeting.


Trump is framing the upcoming weekend talks as progress, while Democrats are emphasizing families unable to pay bills.

The standoff has prompted economic jitters and anxiety among some in Trump's own party. But he appeared Friday in the Rose Garden to frame the weekend talks as progress, while making clear he would not reopen the government.


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the White House Rose Garden after a meeting Friday with U.S. congressional leaders that failed to strike a deal to end the ongoing partial government shutdown. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
"We won't be opening until it's solved," Trump said. "I don't call it a shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and the safety of our country."

Trump said he could declare a national emergency to build the wall without congressional approval, but would first try a "negotiated process." Trump previously described the situation at the border as a "national emergency" before he dispatched active-duty troops in what critics described as a pre-election stunt.

Trump says he could use executive authority to secure funding for the wall:


CBC News
Trump says he's considered declaring national emergency to get border wall funding
WATCH 00:00 00:43
U.S. president says he has weighed using emergency powers, but prefers reaching a negotiated agreement with congressional lawmakers. 0:43
Trump also said the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay would want him to "keep going" and fight for border security. Asked how people would manage without a financial safety net, he declared, "The safety net is going to be having a strong border because we're going to be safe."

Democrats called on Trump to reopen the government while negotiations continue. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "It's very hard to see how progress will be made unless they open up the government."

Trump says he may declare national emergency to secure border wall funding
Friday's White House meeting with Trump included eight congressional leaders — the top two Democrats and Republicans of both chambers. People familiar with the session but not authorized to speak publicly described Trump as holding forth at length on a range of subjects but said he made clear he was firm in his demand for $5.6 billion US in wall funding and in rejecting the Democrats' request to reopen the government.

Trump confirmed that he privately told Democrats the shutdown could drag on for months or years, though he said he hoped it wouldn't last that long. Said Trump, "I hope it doesn't go on even beyond a few more days."

ANALYSISTrump's new reality in 2019: Fending off an emboldened Congress
Newly empowered House Democrats pass funding plan without wall
House Democrats muscled through legislation Thursday night to fund the government but not Trump's proposed wall. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said those measures are non-starters on his side of the Capitol without the president's support.

A variety of strategies are being floated inside and outside the White House, among them trading wall funding for a deal on immigrants brought to the country as young people and now here illegally, or using a national emergency declaration to build the wall. While Trump made clear during his press conference that talk on DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program) would have to wait and that he was trying to negotiate with Congress on the wall, the conversations underscored rising Republican anxiety about just how to exit the shutdown.

Some GOP senators up for re-election in 2020, including Cory Gardner of Colorado and Susan Collins of Maine, have voiced discomfort with the shutdown in recent days.


(CBC)
But with staff level talks there is always an open question of whether Trump's aides are fully empowered to negotiate for the president. Earlier this week, he rejected his own administration's offer to accept $2.5 billion for the wall. That proposal was made when Pence and other top officials met with Schumer at the start of the shutdown.

During his free-wheeling session with reporters, Trump also wrongly claimed that he'd never called for the wall to be concrete. Trump did so repeatedly during his campaign, describing a wall of pre-cast concrete sections that would be higher than the walls of many of his rally venues. He repeated that promise just days ago.

"An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media. Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!" he tweeted Dec. 31.

Trump was joined by Pence in the Rose Garden, as well as House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise. McConnell, who went back to the Capitol, unaware of the press conference, said it was encouraging that the White House officials and the congressional contingent would meet over the weekend "to see if they can reach an agreement and then punt it back to us for final sign off."

Nancy Pelosi, elected House Speaker again, says Trump indictment can't be ruled out
Schumer said that if McConnell and Senate Republicans stay on the sidelines, "Trump can keep the government shut down for a long time."

"The president needs an intervention," Schumer said. "And Senate Republicans are just the right ones to intervene."

Adding to national unease about the shutdown are economic jitters as analysts warn of the risks of closures that are disrupting government operations across multiple departments and agencies at a time of other uncertainties in the stock market and foreign trade.

Trump here is saying that he is prepared to continue the shutdown for years. One wonders at what point we will simply see mass resignations from government employees, because they need to find other work so their families won't lose their homes/be unable to pay medical bills/starve. Potentially crippling the federal government for years to come.

And yet, we can't back down. Whatever the cost. Because listen to what he's saying here. He is saying "If Congress does not give me everything I demand, I will shut down the government indefinitely. I will hold the country hostage." And he has said that if they still don't give it to him, he will declare a national emergency on the border and order the military to carry out his edicts, bypassing Congress and ruling by Presidential fiat. This is the position of a dictator. If we capitulate, Trump will just keep doing this again and again, as he has in the past. What is at stake in this fight, then, is nothing less than Congress's constitutional authority, and obligation, to act as a check on the power of the President.

As to impeachment, Trump has been systematically eroding the checks on the President's power. One of the most powerful of those checks is the threat of impeachment. If we refuse to use it, even in the face of clear criminality by the President, then we surrender that check as well.

[The Romulan Republic]

We're already beginning to see government employees who are not getting paid refusing to work:

nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/government-shutdown-trump-hundreds-of-tsa-agents-have-stopped-showing-up-for-work.

Donald Trump recently suggested that he has the upper hand in the government shutdown fight because “most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.” By this, the president meant that his party depends less on the support of federal workers than Chuck Schumer’s does, and that Democrats will therefore have a harder time standing their ground during a prolonged shutdown than he will.

Beyond the moral odiousness of this position, there was one strategic flaw in Trump’s reasoning: Precisely because they’re aligned with Democratic Party, public-sector unions are likely to be more willing to engage in work stoppages under a GOP president than they might be under a pro-labor one.

Two weeks into the shutdown, formal labor militancy has yet to materialize. But an informal pseudo-strike is already taking shape at America’s major airports.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents are legally obligated to work through the shutdown, even though their pay has been frozen. For TSA agents who survive paycheck to paycheck, that just stopped being workable. As the shutdown approaches its third week, hundreds of agents have begun calling in sick. As CNN reports:


The mass call outs could inevitably mean air travel is less secure, especially as the shutdown enters its second week with no clear end to the political stalemate in sight.

“This will definitely affect the flying public who we (are) sworn to protect,” Hydrick Thomas, president of the national TSA employee union, told CNN.

At New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, as many as 170 TSA employees have called out each day this week, Thomas tells CNN. Officers from a morning shift were required to work extra hours to cover the gaps.

Call outs have increased by 200%-300% at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where typically 25 to 30 TSA employees call out from an average shift according to a local TSA official familiar with the situation.
According to the union, most workers are not calling out as a means of protest, but rather as a way to save money on child care or generate income from second jobs. Still, the union expects the ranks of the “sick” to expand as the shutdown continues. As a result, major American airports are preparing to relax security measures to prevent lines from becoming unmanageable long.

For the moment, this disruption is (at least, officially) the product of individual workers doing what they can to make ends meet. But as worker frustration (and desperation) grows, there’s a risk that collective action could replace individual improvisation. And if federal workers start “bringing the shutdown home” to ordinary Americans, Trump’s opposition to restoring funding to parts of the government that have nothing to do with immigration could become untenable fast.

Can't blame them. I wonder if that's what will force an end to this: a mass strike or resignations by government employees.

But you can see what Trump is doing here. He's making the government unable to function, unable to carry out key functions. He can then use the crisis he has manufactured to declare a national emergency, to justify him intervening by Presidential fiat (backed up by the military) to "save" the country.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

That is one possible scenario. It could also be a prelude to privatization.

In any event, Trump can merely double down, firing essential workers who don't show up for work, de-certify their unions, and fill their ranks with National Guardsmen.

Reagan set the precedent in dealing with the air-traffic controllers back in the 80s. .

[The Romulan Republic]

That is one possible scenario. It could also be a prelude to privatization.

In any event, Trump can merely double down, firing essential workers who don't show up for work, de-certify their unions, and fill their ranks with National Guardsmen.

Reagan set the precedent in dealing with the air-traffic controllers back in the 80s. .

So yeah, basically the armed forces increasingly become the government, if this goes on long enough.

Hurry up, Mueller.

Edit: I'm fairly sure we'll see some sizeable protests if 800,000 government workers and their families are forced out of work, though. At least I bloody well hope we will.

[Vendetta]

That is one possible scenario. It could also be a prelude to privatization.

In any event, Trump can merely double down, firing essential workers who don't show up for work, de-certify their unions, and fill their ranks with National Guardsmen.

Reagan set the precedent in dealing with the air-traffic controllers back in the 80s. .

He can, but on a large enough scale that just moves the problem because National Guardsmen predominantly have civilian jobs.

So it just causes other economic damage down the line as other jobs go unfilled in order to perpetuate the spat.

It is a hilarious irony though that in the name of border security theatre, Trump has actively degraded the border security of the USA by pushing one of the primary border forces into blue flu.

[The Romulan Republic]

Honestly, probably the only reason we're not a dictatorship already is that Trump has an almost magical ability to fuck up everything he touches.

[The Romulan Republic]

Dickless Orange Scrotum is on TV suggesting that Federal employees going without pay can "negotiate" with their landlords. Yeah, I wonder how he would have responded as a landlord if one of his tenants had asked him to go easy on the rent...

[Broomstick]

She regards the legality of indicting a sitting President as undecided. She is noncommittal on impeachment, saying that it would be "sad and divisive" and we should neither do it or refuse to do it for political reasons, and while I find that a bit of a chickenshit answer, given that that Trump has already been implicated in multiple felonies which means that there is a perfectly justifiable non-partisan reason for impeaching him, its good to know that she isn't flatly ruling it out like she appeared to be prior to the Midterms. She basically is taking the stance that the Dems will wait to see what Mueller finds. Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like she's waiting to see if he brings forward something damning enough to convince some Republicans to switch sides, allowing Trump to actually be convicted in the Senate.

Since I was alive in 1974...

This is reminiscent of what was flying around before Nixon resigned. Removing a sitting president is unprecedented (avoiding that very scenario is the very reason Nixon resigned - he felt resigning was better for the nation than being forceably removed. But then, for all his flaws, Nixon was a patriot and willing to fall on his sword for the greater good of the nation). It should not be done lightly and really, there's no point to impeaching Trump if the Senate is unwilling to convict him.

This, I think, is actually the proper move for Pelosi politically, strategically, and legally.

[The Romulan Republic]

The counterpoint, of course, is that if we're never willing to risk using the tool of impeachment even in the face of clear criminality by the President, then there's really no point to having it in the constitution, and the President is arguably, effectively, above the law.

[Broomstick]

Trump here is saying that he is prepared to continue the shutdown for years. One wonders at what point we will simply see mass resignations from government employees, because they need to find other work so their families won't lose their homes/be unable to pay medical bills/starve. Potentially crippling the federal government for years to come.

2-3 months. Because that's how long it takes to evict someone for non-payment of rent, which is when people start winding up homeless. Those with mortgages will be staring at the same fate only a little bit after that. It's the housing thing that will tip the balance because prior to that soup kitchens and charity will keep them fed.

And yet, we can't back down. Whatever the cost. Because listen to what he's saying here. He is saying "If Congress does not give me everything I demand, I will shut down the government indefinitely. I will hold the country hostage." And he has said that if they still don't give it to him, he will declare a national emergency on the border and order the military to carry out his edicts, bypassing Congress and ruling by Presidential fiat. This is the position of a dictator. If we capitulate, Trump will just keep doing this again and again, as he has in the past. What is at stake in this fight, then, is nothing less than Congress's constitutional authority, and obligation, to act as a check on the power of the President.

Agreed.

ETA: While at present the Food Stamp (SNAP) program is still running, if it DOES run out of money at the end of January revise the estimate for "mass walkouts" to end of February, combined with 40 million people who will have their food budget pulled by the loss of those benefits. While some states will have money to continue their program on their own for awhile, those will be the wealthy states like California and New York - the poorer, and by coincidence more red states, will not. Hungry people become desperate people, and if they're hungry enough they have nothing to lose. That is when things could get very, very ugly indeed.

[The Romulan Republic]

To quote Abraham Lincoln: "Stand firm. The tug has to come and better now, than at any time hereafter."

Edit: I'll add that for many decades (and especially during major military conflicts) America has been shifting towards a greater centralization of executive power, and a weakening of the role Congress plays in the system of checks and balances (I'm not sure whether the Judiciary's power has increased or decreased during this time). I think its probably past time for a correction in the other direction, and if Trump provides the impetus for that, so be it.

[LaCroix]

If Trump carries on with his tantrum shutdown, this could very well be the final straw that makes a couple of Republicans (with looming re-elections) side with the impeachment when the time comes. Trump is certainly burning his goodwill fast and thoroughly.

[The Romulan Republic]

Trump knows that Justice is closing in on him. He's trapped, he's frightened, he's lashing out, and he will do his best to take the country down with him.

[Broomstick]

That is one possible scenario. It could also be a prelude to privatization.

What private company is going to take on work with no guarantee of getting paid?

In any event, Trump can merely double down, firing essential workers who don't show up for work, de-certify their unions, and fill their ranks with National Guardsmen.

Reagan set the precedent in dealing with the air-traffic controllers back in the 80s.

Yep, I remember that, too.

But that was just traffic controllers, and the military had people with that skill set already trained. It was also only a bit over 11,000 workers that had to be replaced. Even so, the number of flights was halved for quite some time after that. It took ten years to get staffing levels back to normal.

Here's the list of the departments shut down right now:
Department of State
Department of the Treasury
Department of Justice
Most of the Department of the Interior
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Transportation
Department of Homeland Security
Some Department of Health and Human Services agencies
Food and Drug Administration
Indian Health Service
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Superfund Research Program
Executive Office of the President
Judicial Branch

The IRS (under Treasury) is shut down... during tax season... with only 1/6 of it's personnel at work at all, and none of them getting paid. In other words, the department that brings money into the government is shut down.

The State Department - although in theory you can still get a passport or visa as a practical matter the rate of issuance will slow way, way down.

Reductions in food inspections and pharmaceutical inspections have occurred.

The FBI is currently working for no pay.

The border patrol and TSA are working for no pay.

The air traffic controllers are working for no pay.

That's nearly a million people Trump would have to replace, with a much more diverse set of skills. It would be pretty awful for a long time if that happened.

[The Romulan Republic]

The scary thing is... this is happening, in part, because we're winning. Trump is feeling the heat, as more and more of his crimes are uncovered, more and more of the country turns against him, and the Democrats and Justice Department are beginning to slowly, slowly establish constraints on his actions. So he's lashing out.

What's vital now is that the Democrats don't lose their nerve in the moment of crisis.

[Broomstick]

Dickless Orange Scrotum is on TV suggesting that Federal employees going without pay can "negotiate" with their landlords. Yeah, I wonder how he would have responded as a landlord if one of his tenants had asked him to go easy on the rent...

Even if the landlords wanted to do that they can't because their bills and taxes have to be paid. Banks can't afford to negotiate that many lines of credit/loans without collapsing, and you can't negotiate taxes at all, either local, state, or Federal (although you may not be able to pay the Feds with the IRS being largely shut down...but you'll still owe those sooner or later).

That, and I doubt Trump would have given a rat's ass about why a tenant couldn't pay.

[The Romulan Republic]

Dickless Orange Scrotum is on TV suggesting that Federal employees going without pay can "negotiate" with their landlords. Yeah, I wonder how he would have responded as a landlord if one of his tenants had asked him to go easy on the rent...

Even if the landlords wanted to do that they can't because their bills and taxes have to be paid. Banks can't afford to negotiate that many lines of credit/loans without collapsing, and you can't negotiate taxes at all, either local, state, or Federal (although you may not be able to pay the Feds with the IRS being largely shut down...but you'll still owe those sooner or later).

That, and I doubt Trump would have given a rat's ass about why a tenant couldn't pay.

On the taxes issue- what happens if people can't pay their taxes because they are not getting paid? Are we really going to prosecute 800,000 Federal employees for tax evasion for something they have no control over?

Edit: I can just imagine the Whataboutism. "Manafort's getting jailed for tax crimes? But all those Federal workers didn't pay their taxes. Why aren't Democrats/the FBI prosecuting them. Fake News! Witch Hunt!"

[Broomstick]

On the taxes issue- what happens if people can't pay their taxes because they are not getting paid? Are we really going to prosecute 800,000 Federal employees for tax evasion for something they have no control over?

A few things:

First, the taxes owed by April 15 are taxes from last year - assuming most of those workers had payroll deductions many might not, actually, owe any Federal tax. They probably still need to file, but if you don't owe taxes delayed filing should get your a mean letter but not penalties (although I am not a tax expert - I hire one to do my taxes). If you fail to pay owed tax on time you will incur a penalty, but if the delay is just a few weeks or months it is something you can deal with and/or negotiate payment (yes, I do in fact, speak from experience on that - I misjudged my owed tax when filing an extension one year and wound up not only owing more but also a penalty). It's much better to avoid that, but it's not the end of the world and you will probably not be prosecuted for it. Interestingly enough - if your refund is, for some reason, delayed in getting to you the IRS pays YOU interest. (Yes, I have experienced that, too) Not as much as you would pay the for being late, but you'd still get a bit extra that way. It's really, really rare to have that happen, though.

Second, the problem isn't just paying taxes, it's filing all the damn forms. If the IRS isn't open how the hell do you file your taxes? I suppose you could still drop the completed forms in the mail and maybe they'll go by the post-mark - if you got it to the post office by midnight April 15 you're OK, although I'm not sure where all that mail will sit in the meanwhile until the IRS re-opens.

Third, based on what has happened with various disasters in the past, IF there truly are unforeseen circumstances that prevent large numbers of people from filing on time the IRS has been known to change the deadline for those affected. It's not required, though.

[Lost Soal]

Second, the problem isn't just paying taxes, it's filing all the damn forms. If the IRS isn't open how the hell do you file your taxes? I suppose you could still drop the completed forms in the mail and maybe they'll go by the post-mark - if you got it to the post office by midnight April 15 you're OK, although I'm not sure where all that mail will sit in the meanwhile until the IRS re-opens.

There are apparently new forms due to the tax law that was passed and they haven't been released by the IRS yet.

[The Romulan Republic]

Trump threatens to declare a national emergency and use, in his words "a military version of eminent domain" to seize private and state lands along the border to build the wall.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/watch- ... ng-friday/

During his rambling Rose Garden press conference (the third such appearance in as many days), President Donald Trump covered a wide range of topics — many of which left viewers more confused than not.

From his strange thoughts on eminent domain to his repeated insistence he’s not a criminal, here are the seven most bizarre moments of Trump’s latest presser.





1. Interrupting a reporter — to say that federal workers are happy to not get paid



CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip began asking the president why he wouldn’t reopen the government “to create more space” for a discourse surrounding immigration — but he interrupted her.

After a strange segue about the White House, Trump claimed that he’d spoken to federal workers who agree with his decision to shut down the government over his border wall fight, even if it meant them not getting paid.

“A lot of people that you think are upset and certainly they’re not thrilled, but they say, ‘Sir, do the right thing, we need border security,’ and these are people who are not getting paid,” Trump said.

2. No welcome signage at the US-Mexican border



During a long-winded rant about how poorly the current walls, fences and armed guards at ports of entry protect the country, Trump complained about a lack of signage differentiating between US and Mexico.

“You don’t even have a sign saying, Mexico/US,” he said. “There is no sign designating, ‘you have just entered the United States.’ Just open space.”

3. Yelling at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘You’re not in the construction business!’


CNN White House correspondent Kaitlin Collins reminded the president about the many times his goalposts shifted regarding the wall — and he snapped at her.

“You’re not in the construction business, you don’t understand something,” Trump said. “We have a rebuilt great steel business in the United States. Steel is stronger than concrete… you can’t really see through a concrete wall.”

4. ‘The military version of eminent domain.’



After a free-wheeling explanation of how eminent domain works, Trump told veteran White House reporter April Ryan that he plans on using “the military version of eminent domain” to build his border wall.

“What we’re doing with eminent domain is in many cases we’ll make a deal up front, the secretary has done a lot of that and if we can’t make a deal, we take the land and we pay them through a court process, which goes actually fairly quickly and we’re generous,” the president said.

“Under the military version of eminent domain and national security,” he added, “we can do it before we even start.”

Vox reporter Jane Coaston noted on Twitter while watching the speech that “the ‘military version of eminent domain’ would be…invasion.”


5. Will ‘absolutely’ keep the government shut down for years


After Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed that Trump threatened to keep the government shut down “for years” over the border wall fight, the president confirmed that he indeed said it.

“I did, I did,” Trump said. “I did say that, absolutely I said that. I don’t think it will, but I am prepared.”

6. Threatening a state of emergency to build the wall


When asked by a reporter if he’d considered “using emergency powers to grant yourself authorities to build this wall without congressional approval,” Trump responded that he had.

“I can do it if I want,” the president said. “We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country.

7. Claiming a Palestinian-American freshman congresswoman ‘dishonored her family’ for cursing about his impeachment


Responding to comments from freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in which she told supporters that she wants to “impeach the m*therf**ker,” Trump said the Palestinian-American congresswoman was worthy of “dishonor.”

“I think she dishonored herself and I think she dishonored her family,” the president said. He went on to admonish her for using “language like that in front of her son.”

So, declaring a bogus state of emergency to grant the President broad powers so he can order the military to seize private and state property?

Hey, Trumpers, you know that Second Amendment you love to wank over so much? This is literally why it was created.

If Trump issues such an order, the US military is duty-bound to refuse to obey it. And if I were the governor of a border state, I would respond to such an order by mobilizing my state's national guard units, moving them to the border, and telling Trump point blank that any troops attempting to illegally seize private or state land will be arrested as trespassers, and fired on if they resist.

[The Romulan Republic]

Democrats' response to Trump's threat to use the military to build the wall:

https://globalnews.ca/news/4820191/trum ... democrats/

Top Democrats say President Donald Trump would face legal and political challenges if he tries to declare a national emergency to build the border wall with Mexico.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said the executive power has been used to build military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, but would likely be “wide open” to a court challenge for the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

READ MORE: Donald Trump threatens to call national emergency to force wall approval

“Where is the emergency?” the Washington Democrat said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called it a “non-starter.”

WATCH: Trump says he can build border wall without Congressional approval


The California Democrat tells CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Look, if Harry Truman couldn’t nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn’t have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion-dollar wall on the border.”

So yeah, blatantly illegal. Most likely the courts shoot it down, and if Trump refused to listen to the courts, the military would have a duty to disobey the illegal order.

[Broomstick]

I really wonder how that is going to play in Texas....