USA TODAY International Edition
Stand up to Trump on fake emergency
A test for Republicans and democracy
By officially declaring an “emergency” on the southern border so that he can build his wall, President Donald Trump is willfully damaging our democratic institutions for a little short-term political gain. That is a very bad, very un-American idea.
Trump felt no pressing need for the wall for the past two years, and nothing of emergency proportions on the ground has changed. What has changed is that Democrats now control the House of Representatives. The “emergency” is that Trump isn’t able to get Congress to agree to what he wants.
If he’s unable to build the wall he promised, Trump fears that even his most dedicated fans will turn on him. That may seem like an emergency to Trump, but it does not justify making an end run around Congress. People booing him at his rallies is not the equivalent of the zombie apocalypse.
The old saying that what goes around comes around is nowhere more true than in politics. The reason Trump and the Republican Senate have been confirming very conservative judges at a breakneck pace isn’t due to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s political savvy. It’s because Harry Reid, his predecessor, decided to eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominations to make it easier for Democrats to confirm more liberal judges.
Some day, Democrats will control the presidency and won’t be able to get a Republican House or Senate to act on one of their pet issues. If Trump can declare an emergency to expropriate land and build his wall, some future president could declare an emergency on gun violence or health care, or to shut coal mines and build windmills.
These are not even remotely acceptable reasons for attempting to circumvent our constitutional system of government and the ordinary legislative process. Every Republican in Congress would be violently opposed to any Democrat who tried to do so. But if Republicans are unwilling to challenge Trump on this, they shouldn’t object when President Bernie Sanders does the same thing.
Two decades from now, no one will remember whatever it is that seems so important to us today. But if we damage our democracy, everyone will remember, in 20 years or 100. Nothing can justify opening the door — even a crack — to the idea that a president is entitled to rule by decree when politics and our constitutional system of government become inconvenient.
Fortunately, the National Emergencies Act allows Congress to pass a joint resolution overturning an emergency declaration. If Trump vetoes the resolution, two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate would be needed to overturn his veto and terminate the emergency. This is a steep hill to climb but not an impossible one, especially when so much is at stake.
Declaring an emergency in the absence of one is an affront to the rule of law itself. Our southern border isn’t facing an emergency, but our democratic institutions are. No president should ever be allowed to invoke “emergency” powers simply because he can’t get what he wants. That is a gross abuse of the office of the presidency and sets a dangerous precedent for future presidential administrations.
Every American, regardless of party, should oppose it. Congressional Republicans, in particular, need to stand up to President Trump and block this emergency declaration. If they do not, they will have no one to blame but themselves for what comes next.