Mild rebuke or open revolt? Border wall emergency vote a test of Trump’s strength
JOHN FRITZE AND ELIZA COLLINS | USA TODAY | 33 minutes ago
President Donald Trump says many other presidents have declared national emergencies. But the presidents he has cited did not use emergency powers to pay for projects that Congress wouldn’t support. (Feb. 15)
AP
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump faces a rare defeat Thursday in the GOP-controlled Senate when lawmakers will decide whether to uphold his controversial national emergency to build his proposed border wall, or knock it down.
The prognosis doesn’t look great for Trump.
Trump declared the emergency in February to free up more than $6 billion for the wall – most of it from the Pentagon. Five Senate Republicans have already said they will side with Democrats to support a resolution to rescind it, forcing Trump to sign his first veto.
The president, in a Thursday morning tweet, threatened to veto the resolution should it pass.
“A big National Emergency vote today by The United States Senate on Border Security & the Wall (which is already under major construction). I am prepared to veto, if necessary. The Southern Border is a National Security and Humanitarian Nightmare, but it can be easily fixed!,” he said.
A big National Emergency vote today by The United States Senate on Border Security & the Wall (which is already under major construction). I am prepared to veto, if necessary. The Southern Border is a National Security and Humanitarian Nightmare, but it can be easily fixed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2019
More: Who are the Republican senators planning to vote against Trump’s border emergency?
White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, have scrambled behind the scenes to limit defections. A last-ditch effort by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to ease some GOP concerns about the emergency collapsed Wednesday after the White House rejected it.
Here’s a look at how to read Thursday’s vote in the Senate in terms of how many Republicans buck Trump, and what the final count could mean for the president:
0-3 defectors: Victory for Trump
If the White House flips even one of the Republicans who have announced their opposition, it would represent a significant achievement. It would also signal that congressional Republicans see their reelection as being tied to the border wall as much as Trump does.
The GOP lawmakers who have signaled their opposition to the emergency are Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and, as of Wednesday, Lee. Critics say they agree with Trump that the border needs more resources but they say Trump’s emergency declaration steps on the nation’s founding principle of the separation of powers.
“My concern is really about the institution of the Congress,” Murkowski said recently. “The power of the purse rests with the Congress.”
President Trump speaks during an inspection of border wall prototypes in San Diego March 13, 2018.
MANDEL NGAN, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
4-7 defectors: Rebuke
Democrats need four Republican votes to rescind Trump’s emergency – and they currently have those votes. Because the Democratic-led House has already approved the resolution, a Senate vote could send the measure to the president’s desk.
Under the National Emergencies Act, Congress can rescind a presidential emergency with a simple majority. But Trump can veto the resolution, and the White House has already said he will in this case. It’s unlikely opponents of the emergency would be able to garner enough support to overturn a veto.
Roughly a dozen Senate Republicans remain on the fence, adding to the drama. Some, such as Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, have pushed Trump to take another course. Lee had proposed a compromise to tighten the rules around future emergencies.
But the concept struggled to gain support from the White House or Republicans opposed to Trump’s emergency.
Collins told reporters that the Lee proposal did “not address the current problem that we have, where the president, in my judgment, is usurping congressional authority.”
A White House spokesman did not respond to questions about the Lee proposal.
“It is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution because, after the American Revolution against a king, our founders chose not to create a chief executive with the power to tax the people and spend their money any way he chooses,” Alexander said recently.
View | 16 Photos
President Donald Trump visits US-Mexico border
More than 8 defectors: GOP revolt
The closer the tally of Republican defectors gets to double digits, the bigger problem Trump could have in explaining his expected veto.
Trump insists he is using the emergency powers available to him under the law, and correctly notes that past presidents have signed dozens of emergency declarations. But critics say Trump’s emergency declaration, by contrast, is a response to his inability to convince Congress of the need for billions in wall funding.
And that is unusual. The emergency declaration is already the subject of several lawsuits.
Trump declared the emergency after Congress included only $1.375 billion for the border wall in their most recent government funding measure. The amount was far short of the $5.7 billion Trump initially insisted on during the 35-day government shutdown that ended in January only after he relented.
Trump’s job approval remains high within the GOP, a factor that could limit defections. But while a majority of Republicans back the emergency declaration, some two-thirds of Americans overall opposed it, according to several polls earlier this year.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not answer when a reporter asked him Wednesday if passage of the resolution would represent a rebuke of the president.
“I think everybody in my conference is in favor of the president’s position on the wall and on border security," the characteristically understated GOP leader said. “It is no secret that the use of the national emergency law has generated a good deal of discussion.”
Border wall risks: Trump’s national emergency carries big risks, rewards
Warning ignored: Senate leaders warned a wall emergency would divide GOP
Polls: Donald Trump’s base sticking with him despite after shutdown cave
Contributing: Deborah Berry
Originally Published 1 hour ago
Updated 33 minutes
© Copyright Gannett 2019
DONALD TRUMP
Trump vows to veto resolution terminating his national emergency declaration
Hours before the crucial vote, the president tweeted, “The Southern Border is a National Security and Humanitarian Nightmare, but it can be easily fixed!”
President Trump at a briefing Wednesday on drug trafficking on the southern border.Win McNamee / Getty Images
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March 14, 2019, 7:46 AM ET / Updated March 14, 2019, 8:05 AM ET
By Allan Smith and Rebecca Shabad
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to veto a resolution that would terminate his national emergency declaration just hours before the Senate is set for a showdown vote on the measure.
“A big National Emergency vote today by The United States Senate on Border Security & the Wall (which is already under major construction),” Trump wrote. “I am prepared to veto, if necessary. The Southern Border is a National Security and Humanitarian Nightmare, but it can be easily fixed!”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on Wednesday became the fifth Republican to declare support for the House-passed Democratic resolution to cancel Trump’s national emergency declaration — which the president wants to use to pay for a border wall Congress has refused to fund.
Trump tweeted again later Thursday morning, urging GOP lawmakers to stick with him.
“Prominent legal scholars agree that our actions to address the National Emergency at the Southern Border and to protect the American people are both CONSTITUTIONAL and EXPRESSLY authorized by Congress,” Trump said on Twitter. “If, at a later date, Congress wants to update the law, I will support those efforts, but today’s issue is BORDER SECURITY and Crime!!! Don’t vote with Pelosi!”
After four GOP senators announced that they would back the resolution — Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., last week conceded that it would pass.
Debate started on the resolution around 10 a.m. ET, with the final vote expected in the afternoon.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a frequent Trump critic, announced in a statement ahead of the vote Thursday that he would vote in favor of the resolution.
“I will vote today for the resolution of disapproval,” Romney said. “This is a vote for the constitution and for the balance of powers that is at its core. For the executive branch to override a law passed by Congress would make it the ultimate power rather than a balancing power. This is not a vote against border security. In fact, I agree that a physical barrier is urgently needed to help ease the humanitarian crisis at the southern border, and the administration already has $4.5 billion available within existing authority to fund a barrier — even without an emergency declaration.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., also announced on the Senate floor that he would join Democrats and support the measure, calling the declaration that Trump issued a “dangerous precedent.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed for declaring an emergency “because he lost with Congress.”
“He had to trample on the Constitution to continue his fight,” Schumer said.
Should Trump veto the measure, it is unlikely that Congress would be able to overturn it.
Trump declared the national emergency weeks after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting more than a month, which followed Congress’ refusal to acquiesce to his demand for more than $5 billion in funding to build a massive wall along the southern border with Mexico. Trump used the emergency declaration in hopes of redirecting billions of federal dollars to build the wall without congressional approval.
Trump on Thursday labeled the Democratic lawmakers opposed to his emergency declaration “‘Border Deniers.’”
“They refuse to see or acknowledge the Death, Crime, Drugs and Human Trafficking at our Southern Border!” he tweeted.
Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.
Rebecca Shabad
Rebecca Shabad is a congressional reporter for NBC News, based in Washington
Here is an opinion that I beg God not to be even as pointless as it appears to be, of colluding personality with what is going on in the world stage, filled with loopholes: England’s Need it referendum in disarray, Kim’s personality and duplicity bursting at the seams, Vemezuela’s reticence to put it mildly and on and on
The partisan politics reflective of.public confidence, distrust of the judiciary and the Senate, these are not merely basis for fox.news.talking points:
The Trump Impeachment
CongressImpeachmentOpinionTrump-Russia
Donald Trump STILL doesn’t get it. Let’s hope that continues.
By Joseph “Murfster35” Murphy / PolitiZoom - March 13, 2019258
Please, just keep yappin’, you dumbass. Donald Trump has long been reputed to be a master magician of the media, getting them to follow the bright, shiny objects, but it turns out that he isn’t too hard to mesmerize himself.
Personally, I hope that the Mueller probe goes on for at least another six months. Because, as long as it does, Trump’s attention span is pretty much monolithic. And it can be summed by two simple words, the ones most often to come out of the mouth of, or off of the fat, short Twitter thumbs of, Donald John Trump. “No collusion!”Donald Trump’s ego is about to kill him, and it may just take his kids future down with him. Everybody already knows that Der Gropinfuror is a cheap, corrupt, morally bankrupt little man. That’s baked into the cake. But the one thing that Trump can’t tolerate is anybody thinking that his presidential victory was illegitimate, that he had Russian help. In other words, that he’s a loser!
This indulgence of his over sized ego colors everything he does. That’s why he leads off every statement or comment, no matter what the subject, with the words “There was no collusion!” And that single minded obsession isn’t just going to ultimately land him in prison, it’s going to break him.
Pretend that you’re a detective for just a moment. You’re looking at somebody for having committed a murder. You don’t find enough evidence that he committed the murder to charge him, but you find ample evidence that he’s a world class loan shark. Do you just slap the file folder shut and mutter, “Shit! I thought for sure he did it!”, or do you turn that nice, fat file full of evidence over to prosecutors to nail him for extortion and loan sharking?
That is exactly what is going on here. Trump is in such a frenzy about proving his legitimacy as President, that he’s ignoring the fact that the barbarians are at the gate. The NY State tax authorities are investigating him for tax fraud, as well as tax avoidance on his parents tax scam to funnel inheritance money to him and his sister by illegal means. The New York Attorney General is investigating his financial dealings with at least two banks for inflating his assets to fraudulently get loans and lower insurance premiums, plus possible fraudulent claims, and does anybody think that using his real estate business for money laundering, quite possibly Russian money, can be far behind? And call me kooky, but I highly doubt that the Manhattan District Attorney is going to stop with Paul Manafort. It’s open season in New York State right now, and Donald Trump is the only one not wearing an orange vest while he stomps around in the woods.
Ask yourself this. If Robert Mueller totally crucifies Trump in his report, what’s the worst that can happen? They impeach him, and he gets bounced from the White House, either pardoning himself on the way out, or resigning in return from a pardon from Pence. He goes back to running his company. And on’t kid yourself, the only thing that Donald Trump has ever cared about is the money. But Trump becoming President started people looking at all kinds of shit that they never bothered with before, because, as Nancy Pelosi so eloquently put it, “He just isn’t worth it.”
But now, because the investigation into possible Russian interference and obstruction of justice have uncovered collateral damage, not only federal investigators, but NY State investigators are looking into his financial dealings, and deeply. What if investigators find not only criminal conduct, but a long standing pattern of criminal conduct involving wire fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, and money laundering that fits together well enough for New York to charge his business under the states own version of the RICO statute? Not only would Trump end his life in prison, but prosecutors coud literally suck his company dry, as well as seizing any personal assets that were purchased with “illicit money.” That’s the kind of justice I’m looking for here. And either nobody has told him yet, or he just refuses to understand, that a Presidential pardon can’t save him from state charges.
The moral of this story is to be careful what you wish for. Donald Trump never wanted to actually be the President, he just wanted to be richer and more famous. But there’s a thin line between fame and infamy, and it’s starting to look like Donald Trump is about to jump over that line with both feet.
Yup, the state charges are the icing on the “downfall of trump” cake, when the criminal activity removes his illegally obtained “wealth”, (whatever that actually is), and the infamy of his pathetic excuse for a presidency is outshone by the criminality of his entire business life
Daily Sound and Fury
A Russian view of a different kind of national emergency that may be an under lying factor in the said collusion:, possible but uncertain interesting to weigh in :
Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog
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Greg Hunter 5 years ago Categories: Political Analysis
Collapse and Systemic Failure at All Levels Coming to U.S.-Dmitry Orlov
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Dmitry Orlov is a Russian blogger who writes about the parallel between the U.S and the USSR. Orlov lived through the financial collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, and he thinks the U.S. is on the same trajectory. Orlov contends, “The trajectory is defined by this sort of incompetent militarism where more and more money results in bigger and bigger military fiascos around the world and less and less of actual foreign policy that can be pursued or articulated. There are massive levels of corruption. The amount of money that is being stolen by the U.S. Government and its various appropriations processes is now in the trillions of dollars a year. Runaway debt, the United States now has a level of debt that is un-repayable. All we’re waiting for is interest rates to go across the magic threshold of 3% and the entire budget of the country explodes. There are also all types of other tendencies that point in the direction of collapse and systemic failure at all levels.”
So, how close are we to collapse or system failure? Orlov contends, “I am pretty sure that anyone who makes a prediction when the collapse will happen is wrong. Nobody can say when it will happen. It’s the same as saying a bridge that is structurally deficient; you don’t know when a truck is going to fall through into the river below. . . . You can be chronically sick for a long time, and then one day, you go into a coma or your heart stops. You cannot predict what day that will happen. Orlov does say, “The United States right now, from my point of view and the point of view from observers from around the world, is on suicide watch. It’s a country that is going to self-destruct at some point in the near future.”
On the Ukraine crisis, Orlov thinks, “The Crimea referendum was the first legal way to find out what the people wanted to do. The turnout was remarkable, and they voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia, to become part of Russia once again. The interesting thing here is it was not just the Russians that voted to join Russia but the Ukrainians in Crimea, which makes a sizable part of the population voted to join Russia. . . Ukraine is composed of sort of a no man’s land in the West and then Russian territories in the East. . . . If that trend holds, you are basically left with this insolvent nugget of nothingness, and it will be up to the international community to decide what to do with these people. They are right now marching around Kiev with baseball bats and going into government offices and beating up members of local government and installing their own members. They are basically running amok. They don’t even have the support of the Ukrainian military at this point. So, it will be a mop-up operation against these neo-fascists that are running amok.” Orlov goes on to say, “In Washington, in the Obama Administration and in the Kerry State Department, we have absolutely breathtaking levels of incompetence. These people really don’t know what they’re doing and are dangerous at any speed; and everywhere else, we have this follow the incompetent leader thing taking place, and it’s really, really frightening because the incompetents are leading the world to a really dangerous place.”
Orlov goes on to say, “What are these people doing trash talking the Russians? What would these people do without Russia? How would they get out of earth’s orbit and visit the international space station? Who would negotiate international deals with Syria and Iran because all they can do is blunder and lose face.” Russia doesn’t need the United States for anything. The United States is the most dispensable country on earth.”
On possible war between Ukraine and Russia, Orlov contends, “They are not going to fight because the Ukraine military is part of the Russian military. There really isn’t any opposition. The Ukrainian military will decide what to do in a few days, and then they will inform the Russians, and after that, maybe they will inform their own government. Maybe they will just go into the government offices and just round them up. Last I heard, 60% of Ukrainian military accepted Russian passports already. The remaining parts are being shipped out to the mainland. That is happening peacefully. So, there isn’t going to be any fight. The really important point is the Ukrainian military all over Ukraine does not support the government in Kiev. They are withholding support, and what they really want is to join the Russian military. . . . The best thing Russia can do is sit back and relax and let this work out. I don’t think the government in Kiev has any legs.”
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Dmitry Orlov of ClubOrlov.com coming from Central America.
After the Interview:
Dmitry Orlov is currently working on a new book that will be out later this year. Orlov says, “The new book is about communities and what makes them resistant to adverse events such as financial collapse.” Orlov adds, “The U.S., as a whole, is not resistant to shocks, but some parts of America are.” You can find Dmitry Orlov at ClubOrlov.com.
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Greg Hunter :Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
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