Impeach the motherfucker

Legal observers expect the courts to impose an injunction on this national-emergency declaration as soon as it is made. Indeed, the president made the judiciary’s work easier on Friday when he admitted that he “didn’t need to do this,” a confession that there is, in fact, no ongoing national emergency. A judicial quagmire is the GOP’s fondest hope. That way, Trump can say he’s fighting for his wall in every possible way, and Republicans in Congress can cede their authority to check the executive branch by insisting that the whole matter is out of their hands. And all without ever having to expropriate private property along the border or prove the dubious efficacy of a physical wall. Everybody wins!

[...]

By appealing to the military to resolve a domestic policy dispute, Trump is actively eroding America’s sense of civic propriety.

This isn’t the first time the president has appealed to emergency powers reserved for periods of extraordinary duress, simply to achieve a petty political objective. When he imposed tariffs on heavy-metal imports from America’s trade partners, Trump invoked Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. That provision is explicitly reserved for a national emergency, such as a natural disaster or war. But Trump promised his constituents in the manufacturing sector that he would protect their jobs, and so he had to label America’s trading partners—including allies like Japan—as threats to American national security.

As Trump’s trade war heated up and its negative effects were being disproportionately absorbed by American farmers and ranchers, another core constituency, the president appealed to national security again to ease their pain. His administration offered aid to affected sectors of the agricultural industry to the tune of $12 billion by citing the Agriculture Department’s broad authority to stabilize that sector of the economy during times of tumult.

Though he eventually abandoned the move, Trump planned to invoke Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to force American energy markets to purchase electricity from inefficient coal and nuclear plants at above-market rates. This provision is exclusively reserved for American presidents amid a national cataclysm that renders Congress inaccessible, but the Trump administration sought to use it only to provide this favored constituency with a federal bailout.

Even if Trump’s decision to invoke national security to erect his wall is stopped indefinitely by the courts, we may look back upon this moment as the crossing of the Rubicon. [...] The next president will undoubtedly face pressure from his or her core constituents to apply the precedent Trump is setting to their domestic policy priorities.

Maybe the most pernicious effect of the president’s extraordinary maneuver here is how he will drag complacent Republicans along with him into the abyss.

  The Atlantic

Good riddance.

Once invoked, 50 U.S. Code § 1622 on national emergencies sets into motion a series of events, including an almost immediate vote by the House of Representatives ratifying the president’s decision. The House will certainly reject Trump’s national-emergency declaration, sending that motion to the Senate, where it cannot be tabled. And that GOP-controlled chamber will be compelled to support Trump’s transparently political debasing of constitutional norms, not because of support for Trump, but because of pressure from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Don't feel sorry for them. They let him have this much power.

“I wish he wouldn’t have done it,” said Senator Chuck Grassley. “I’m not really for it,” Senator Rand Paul agreed. This was a “dramatic expression” of emergency powers, a “bad idea,” and entirely “unnecessary,” said Senators Ron Johnson, Marco Rubio, and Lamar Alexander, respectively. “I think it’s a dangerous step,” averred Senator John Cornyn. “It undermines the role of Congress and the appropriations process,” Senator Susan Collins agreed.

I won't be holding my breath for one of them to buck McConnell on this.

This is a moment of extreme national cowardice. America’s governing institutions are abdicating their authority in pursuit of expedience and amid a craven scramble to save face. A precedent has been established that all Americans, but conservative Americans in particular, will long regret.