Because Obama wore a tan suit once and his wife tried to tell my kid he can’t eat Cheetos and Pepsi for lunch!!!
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They’ve got a solution for that too.
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Don’t forget the Dijon mustard!
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Well to be fair they had a majority in the Senate, but not the super-majority of 60 votes needed to advance legislation.
Arguably only because they knew that it wouldn’t work. It’s like the little dog that barks like crazy from his side of the fence, but runs away when you enter the yard.
And that is why I found Obama’s institutionalization of “kill lists” for drone strikes so chilling. The ONLY limitation of the president’s power is the willingness of those around him to disobey his orders. And that is dramatically strengthened when there are actual laws on the books rather than a mere administrative procedure or executive order.
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Worse than this, to Trump and many of his supporters, not only does a win/win deal mean that you didn’t negotiate well what is REALLY important is seeing the other guy LOSE. They’d rather have an everybody loses deal than an everybody wins one.
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I think a lot of us are painfully aware of that. I just hope it’s fast and that the fat clown dies. Even if I have to die too. But life is better when one doesn’t dwell too long on the worst case scenarios, as evidenced by this godawful fucked-up situation. If half the terrified idiots supporting this could calm down and apply some critical thought we might be able to avoid that scenario. I can’t make them do that, but I can try to do it for myself.
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We are one genuine national security crisis/emergency away from our system of government as we know it going away. So much of our system relies on norms and self-regulating behavior that presumes the participants want to continue the system of government they were elected into, and we’re finding out what it looks like when the President literally doesn’t know and doesn’t care how government is supposed to function or what the rule of law means. And with a complicit GOP in control of the Senate, the checks and balances that the Constitution provides are worth about the ink they’re written with.
Does anyone truly think that the rule of law as we know it would survive in the short to medium term if, say, a bomb went off somewhere in this country and Trump was able to pin it on someone who crossed the southern border illegally?
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I dont think its that clean in there. Spock would be visiting the 9th circle of hell at this point.
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remember, all this from a most seriously illegitimate president
double-dog dare him
because single-payer healthcare is now a national emergency for reals and so is climate change, all those coal plants needs immediate shutdown and all the methane burn-off in the oil fields needs to be shuttered immediately - so we’ll just declare them national emergencies
oh and private ownership of guns is now illegal, it’s a real emergency
so if they want autocrats, we are going to make some serious progress
also supreme court now needs 15 judges so we’ll just appoint more for life to balance that out
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There are a bunch of legal issues with it.
The military is highly restricted in what it can do domestically, and congressional approval is needed for them to enforce domestic law. They’re only authorized to build projects neccisary for military purposes, on federal military land. Using funding already authorized for other military construction projects.
Laws around national emergencies require a pressing, real justification. And there are laws in place for Congress to push back, the courts have the ability to rule the emergency is not real if it’s challenged.
So it seems like it every angle of this has multiple checks from Congress and federal courts. And that’s before you get into states and individuals defending their rights and laws in court. You can fight it when the government eminent domains your land, and the “military version” needs a specific military justification. States can challenge federal military presence in their jurisdiction based on those laws restricting federal troop’s actions.
The military itself seems to have no interest on being used this way. And the military code of Justice has a bunch of different charges in it for violating the usual separation of the military from domestic affairs, using funding inappropriately. So any portion of the military that does participate without clear authorization faces criminal charges. Brought by a military court, not Trump’s DOJ. So there’s an ability within the military to check itself.
There’s a reason why he’s talking about redirecting emergency funds for existing disasters. And Everyone is apparently telling him this won’t work. If and when he does this it’ll be so tied up with challenges he could go through another term before it resulted in any wall construction.
You still need congressional approval for funds if that flies. Either funds that have already been approved for a really narrow band of specific things. Or Congress to pass new funding specifically for this emergency.
So even if the emergency declaration passes without challenge. He’s still got to find some money he can get at without challenge. And then he’s got to find a way to use the military domestically without challenge. And he’s got to find a way to get at the land without challenge. And then he’s gotta find a way/place to build it without violating treaties with Mexico.
And in the end homeland security/cbp don’t even want a wall. They want drones, and some new spans of fence in some really specific areas.
Which is why you’ve got GOP politicians running around claiming the wall is just a liberal buzz word to trick us into open borders. While they’re really looking for a small bump in funding for 200 miles of fence and “more border security”.
Despite Trump refusing to sign that into law and screaming hourly about a big beautiful wall.
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I realize you’re being silly, but the actual genuine reason it was different, in their minds, is because Republicans view any Democratic victory as an illegitimate deviation from the righteous destiny of permanent Republican rule.
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I get the temptation to go the don’t throw me in the briar patch route and then use this kind of power to do things one considers beneficial to the country as opposed to the nonsense about the wall, BUT once we go down that route, there’s no going back. It’s difficult and sometimes frustrating for the government to accomplish things under a constitutional republic with due process and the rule of law, but the alternative is to live in an autocratic dictatorship where the best case scenario is that we whipsaw back and forth between benevolent autocrats and people like Trump trying to remake the fundamentals of the system every time power changes hands.
Jebus love 'em, but it’s one of the reasons Obama’s legacy is diminished by the fact that he didn’t do anything to dial back the executive powers Bush took for himself in the WoT. Had he engaged the country in an adult conversation about why Bush’s warmaking powers were not constitutional and he wanted to reestablish the responsibilities of Congress, I think the country would be better for it.
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Wow, Godwined in the post, didn’t even have to wait for the comments.
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I’m so old that I remember when these idiots freaked out when Obama wanted to conduct military training in Texas.
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What else would you expect when Dobbs said what he did? Free speech does not come with freedom from consequences, and if someone talks like a fascist he shouldn’t be surprised when he’s called out as one. Also:
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That depends on your definition of work. It won’t get the wall built, but it will allow Trump to whine to aggrieved base about how their mutual enemies are thwarting them.
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And I’m assuming that’s why he’s pushing the idea. It won’t work, but it gives him an out.
I just don’t know how it gets him out of the government shut down. He’s repeatedly refused to sign a compromise bill the GOP Senate has already passed. Failing to do it through an emergency declaration doesn’t sign that budget bill. If he signed that bill and excused it by saying will do it with an emergency, OK. But he’s basically doing it backwards. And it certainly doesn’t shift blame for the shutdown off the White House.
This is just a big bag of fucking stupid.
And in the meantime this is tying up the government in a way that delays or blocks the GOP agenda. But doesn’t prevent DNC obstruction, or all these investigations. And extended court battles over an emergency declaration will do the same.
It’s not surprising that McConnell is sort of leaving him hanging on this.
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I totally expected that Trump would go full fascist in the wake of some kind of questionable national emergency. But l also assumed that there actually would be some kind of national emergency. It’s amazing that nothing even close to that low-bar has happened. Without a decent pretext, it’s hard to believe that the GOP (or the Kavanaugh court) will let the constitution wither and die, letting their big wet boy have his wall… But that’s what seems may happen.
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Minor correction for accuracy. Bush was Cheney’s muppet.
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It’s well known that it’s only a problem when other people do it.
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