Pretty much as soon as Donald Trump ended the longest shutdown in history with nothing in return, people were war-gaming all of his possible moves to “save face.” The priority for Trump is never the well-being of the country, nor does he even care about his beloved Deplorables. No, the only priority for Trump is own image, and whether he looks like he “won” or whether he looks like he caved, or folded like a cheap Trump-brand suit. Trump didn’t look like a winner when he finally caved on the shutdown.
What was weird was that he seemed to finally get it through his thick skull that if he took credit for a shutdown and orchestrated the whole thing, people were going to justifiably blame him. So he figured out that he couldn’t orchestrate another shutdown. Allegedly, the Republican caucus in the Senate forced his hand into signing off on the budget deal they made this week. Orchestrated crisis over, right? Wrong. Trump is going to declare a national emergency to steal money for his f–king wall.
The surprise announcement Thursday that President Donald Trump will use his emergency powers to try and build his border wall blindsided some Republicans, confused others and sent the Senate GOP into a general state of shock. The news, delivered by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor, came after weeks of warnings from his own party not to declare a national emergency at the border.
Trump has decided to challenge Republicans’ resolve anyway — but he may not like the outcome. Aides privately predicted Trump will lose a vote on the Senate floor once the Democratic House passes a resolution of disapproval to block the move. Meanwhile, the GOP Senate majority was casting about for answers.
“I wish he wouldn’t have done it,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who McConnell interrupted on the Senate floor to make his announcement. “If [Trump] figures that Congress didn’t do enough and he’s got to do it, then I imagine we’ll find out whether he’s got the authority to do it by the courts.”
“In general, I’m not for running the government by emergency, nor spending money. The Constitution’s pretty clear: spending originates and is directed by Congress,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who like almost everyone else on Capitol Hill wants more information. “So I’m not really for it.”
As I said, both sides had actually war-gamed this out weeks ago. We always knew this was a possibility, and I’m not even really sure that Trump wants the money, or if he’s just going through the motions until a federal court shuts him down. He just wants to look like his Wall drama was about *something* and that he’s doing something about it. He doesn’t actually give a sh-t. Even his own Department of Justice is like “the courts are gonna block this, dude.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I hate this man. there’s no national emergency at the border. there’s no crisis at the border. take the limited money you were given to build some slats and stfu.
+1
As Nancy Pelosi called it, a beaded curtain.
He wants to take DISASTER money from California and Puerto Rico to pay for the wall. So steal from the actual emergency to pay for the fake one. He’s such an evil, evil man.
I hope the slow grind through the court system doesn’t prevent money from getting to those that need it in CA and PR.
Truer words have never been said.
Trump also wants to take away millions and millions earmarked for new military housing to build his useless vanity wall. Many of the existing base houses are old, vermin-infested and crumbling. Yeah, Cadet Bone Spurs Draft Dodger *really* loves the military.
Preach……..Co-sign!
That was one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard. Trump admitted he doesn’t need a national emergency, he just wants one. The courts will love that.
Dayam! Talk about hanging yourself by your own petard.
The man is a menace to society.
Is it because he is not getting much reaction when he mentions Obama, Hillary “but her emails” Clinton, that 45 is so focused on building this wall? Or does he and his family somehow financially benefit from it being built?
I’m guessing he has some shell company waiting to swoop in and build the wall at a huge profit.
THIS!!!!
Honestly it’s more basic than that. It’s just about winning. He rode a wave of “build the wall” into an office he wasn’t even really running for, and it’s his only talking point to generate roaring crowds.
It’s both. It’s profitable AND it gins up his xenophobic base. Win-win.
Yes to Bettyrose and yes to this.
“The priority for Trump is never the well-being of the country, nor does he even care about his beloved Deplorables. No, the only priority for Trump is own image, and whether he looks like he “won” or whether he looks like he caved, or folded like a cheap Trump-brand suit. Trump didn’t look like a winner when he finally caved on the shutdown.”
But if it was about winning, why didn’t he do this when the Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate? It doesn’t make sense to me. He could have gotten it passed then, but he sat on his hands until now.
Anna,
But the same could be asked if it’s primarily about profit. I honestly don’t know. Maybe he’s been keeping it as the ace up his sleeve for the 2020 campaign.
Trump is basically doing to the US what dick cheney did to Iraq: started a war that where he and his connections were and continue to be deeply enriched by business opportunities. Oil, construction, private security. That is the republican party’s MO: LOOT THE STORE. Private prisons, government contracts on Federal Land, charter schools, iraq war. It is all for money.
The GOP has spent the last 30 years making GOBS of money exploiting people in the US and the middle east and now that Trump is there- they can stop paying taxes on their stolen money. Trump is also helping with his detention centers, contracts in Puerto Rico and Houston and putting greed monsters like Betsy DeVos in charge of education and stupid braindead losers like Ben Carson in charge of HUD where he can take the Trump family enterprise of being slum landords fully National .
Everything is about the financial benefit. That is why Trump is there. And his long standing history of money laundering helps Russian and Saudi Arabia get their bucks too.
^^^^THIS!!!!! ALL DAY LONG, THIS^^^^^^^ 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Great points, Lizzie!!!!
WORD to your entire post.
It is easy to hide corruption in construction. And it doesn’t seem as though anybody is paying attention to who gets chosen for the foolish job or planning to closely monitor the money.
Trump is infamous for cheap construction in his hotels. Plenty of glitter but no substance. If he chooses the construction companies, I would worry that the results could be hazardous to animal and human life just because of poor construction.
And yes, he will find a way to get a big chunk of that money siphoned into his own pockets. He knows how and he loves money.
The president has no role in federal contracting. That is done by career employees who have federal whistle blower protections. It will be hard for Trump to have any influence over who is selected to build the wall.
Mac, don’t forget that bullsh*t U.S. company in the middle of nowhere that somehow got the contract to repair Puerto Rico’s electric grid.
Mac, I desperately want to believe that you’re correct, but given Trumps mendacity to date, I am 100% certain he’s going to loot the treasury with his border wall contracts.
Of course he and his off spring are planning to profit from this – he knows how to scam construction projects. Considering how much money he allegedly owes the Russian mafia (rumoured to run into billions over the years) he clearly plans to make the American taxpayer pay that debt off.
@rbc
I lived in Arizona for several yrs under Arpaio. It’s about MONEY. CONTRACTS. BILLIONS FOR DEVELOPERS.
That’s why Arpaio allowed himself to FINALLY be convicted and thrown out of office. The chance to nab those contracts was finally coming up. The developers have wanted this for years – decades!
Now that they’ve got their prison industrial complex(es) they’ve been hammering on about “the wall.”
With all of his contacts in construction, I’m sure there’s some money laundering that will happen. As they did before, Trump Org. could set up a supply company and sell supplies to themselves, or in this case, the government.
Of course. Trump never pushes anything unless he can profit off of it. He’s counting on those kickbacks.
Its like for once the Republicans are showing a grain of sense because they all seem to be thinking “and what happens when a Democrat is in the White House?” I don’t know how long that grain of sense will last, but its there right now. And for him to get his way with this, lots of Republicans are going to have to go on the record about this use of presidential powers. I know that the common response is “that doesn’t matter” but when the federal government is embroiled in law suits with Texans over their land, and their senator said “ok” to trump about it – its going to matter.
What if no Democrat (small d or big) is ever elected to the White House again, between gerrymandering, vote tampering, foreign influence, control of the courts etc. And/or they grab what they can now (tax cuts, abortion etc) and run… I felt so down yesterday w the threat of an emergency, this is how democracy dies… It’s exhausting isn’t it…
Please stop. This move will be blocked by the courts.
For now. For now it will get tied up in the courts.
But this precedent has been set so let’s look at the silver lining: if we get the executive branch in 20202 we are declaring a national emergency on climate change.
It may be going to the courts, but don’t forget, for the last two and a half years, the republiTHUGS have been stocking the federal courts with R judges, and let’s not forget the predatory rapist on SCOTUS. It will slide through like sh!t through a goose.
I found myself shouting back at the tv all throughout this rambling idiot’s speech. This/he angers me all the way down to my core. I just feel so damned defeated.
This has to go through the 9th Circuit, which is mostly made up of Clinton and Obama appointees. It will be rejected by the 9th Circuit and then go to SCOTUS. I don’t see any scenario where Roberts votes with Trump on this. Not only is Roberts desperate to not been seen as a pawn of the Republicans, he is actually pretty narrow in his interpretation of the law. Something that takes 15 years to build just isn’t an emergency.
What concerns me greatly, is how Trump will react when SCOTUS denies him. Will he declare martial law? Start a war? Cut off trade with Mexico and Canada entirely? He is dangerous at the best of times.
Trump, the GOP and Putin WANT Americans to be depressed and hopeless – hopeless people DON’T VOTE. DON’T LET THEM DO THIS TO US. Let your anger and disgust for their treachery keep you strong. Show them who REALLY runs this country: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
The absolute last thing any sensible Republican should want is for this to go through. Because next time a Democrat gets in, well…
Our healthcare is a wreck – guess we’ll have to declare universal health care an emergency?
Oh what’s this, climate change is wrecking the planet? It’s an emergency.
Our national credit rating is dropping because of the debt? Whoops, better slam those taxes back up!
See? Only an idiot would let this through. The precedent it would set is too dangerous.
I wish in a way, but I don’t think Democrats will have the stomach for that, else homeowners not AIG would have been bailed out in 2008, Merrick Garland would be on the Supreme Court, etc etc They do seem to be getting tougher tho, we’ll see…it just seems like a dangerous slope to begin sliding down…
“I wish he wouldn’t have done it,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who like almost everyone else on Capitol Hill wants more information. “So I’m not really for it.”
But you can 100% bet that when push comes to shove, we’ll all fall in line behind our fuhrer and vote to support him and pander to the fanatical base like the toadying, cowardly, boot licking losers we are!
Yeah, more empty words from the empty suits of the GOP. What a f%^&ing farce.
chuck grassley can eat my shorts. he’s picking up where paul ryan left off with his feckless BS
Exactly. They’re f*cking useless.
I’m jumping on this train too–Spineless, greedy, morally bankrupt cretins. I cannot believe how fast they rolled over to this absolute lunatic who is invading our White House. WTF with this POS’s!!?!
If they are so opposed to this then they can immediately offer a resolution to dissolve the state of emergency. Pretty sure that would have no problem passing the House.
There we go, he just devaluated the term “national emergency”.
Next national emergency will be when the shops run out of bronzer (or oranger).
Don’t be silly. It’s just good genes.
LOL
Today is going to be an interesting day.
Late last night the orange Voldemort was tweeting a ridiculous quote from Dershowitz that invoking the 25th Amendment is unconstitutional and tantamount to treason. Sure.
Meanwhile, Nagini is going to go to Munich for yet another vacation/personal business jaunt while pretending to “empower women.” So, when calling your congressional people to voice your views on the state of emergency today, you might also want to mention that you oppose this unethical use of our tax dollars on flagrant, illegal nepotism.
ETA He’s making a “remarks” in the Rose Garden at 10 AM today. I’m praying for gale force winds. I apologize to my family in the DC area but I’m sure they understand.
Ivanka might also be a personal emissary to Mr. Putin, one way or another.
Lightpurple, do you think he is going to again be making a “remarks” about his wall being “very, very . . . coming”? My god, what a fecking moron. I’m so thankful to be living down here, and honestly hope that, somehow, America’s nightmare is over soon and your country can begin to heal.
We had 60 degree weather here in St. Louis yesterday and 50’s the day before and very little wind. DC is at about the same latitude as we are. So I’m guessing the wea. ther will be good there today.
Also, he still has time to change his mind and choose not to sign it especially after Hannity is saying it’s a poor deal.
As I predicted, this has been quite the interesting day. After his rambling, bizarre press event in which he admitted there was no emergency while he was declaring an emergency and Nagini was doing her darndest to play Princess in Munich, wearing what had to be Oscar de la Renta’s ugliest, long orange & black glitter dress, with dirty hair, & too much makeup, to meet with European female military leaders, wearing professional attire, as Trump rips into his steak down in Mar a Lago; the following news is breaking:
The first eminent domain lawsuit has been filed. ACLU is prepping a lawsuit, as are several states.
The Supremes agreed to hear the Census case
Mueller wants 19-24 years for Manafort.
Mueller interviewed Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Mueller has evidence linking Roger Stone to Wikileaks
Judge slaps gag order on Roger Stone
Five murdered in mass shooting at manufacturing plant in Illinois, five cops shot.
Prepare for crazed, attention-seeking tweets tomorrow
I think some guy declared a national emergency to turn his limited democratic powers into a full-blown autocracy. Hmmm, can’t remember his name though. Any ideas?
Did it begin with the letter H?
A. H?
hopefully (naively) this is what ends it all. i think if he does this – he will be sued and it will be grounds for impeachment. i think democrats will have plenty of public opinion when they say “money for our beloved military and airport security is being diverted to build a wall”
Trump has been aiming at disaster relief funds originally intended for California and Puerto Rico as well as flood control money. That should go over well…
All this just to keep Ann Coulter from laughing at him. I suggest we just bribe her to shut up. Perhaps a GoFundMe to keep Fox News people from mocking the President about that damn wall. He’s such a child.
It was announced that the money will come from discretionary DoD funds. Congress has the right to block it the use of those funds, but that would require the invertebrates in the Senate to grow a spine.
Gosh, I wish a national emergency could be declared to rid the country of this orange fool and all his supporters. Ship them off to deep space so they can colonize a planet and live free from all the people they hate so much.
You just reminded me of my “Save America: Deport Republicans” t-shirt.
Time to drag that timeless classic out of the dresser….
Omg, lol! I’m going to go look for one online. Thank you, Kitten!
Ann Coulter who is so far right that she loses her balance and whose opinions make the short hairs on trump’s neck stand up straight tweeted: The goal of a national emergency is for trump to scam the stupidest people of his base for two more years. Then she flew away on her broomstick. Although, she was correct.
i thought she wanted this stupid wall? her pea brain must finally be melting from the bleach. thank the gods.
She wants the wall. I think she knows that a national emergency is not going to actually give them the wall.
Chris Matthews was talking about her last night and was basically like – why are Trump and other Rs so scared of her? She tweets a lot and writes some far right crazy books, but she’s not really anybody. Why does she have so much power over Trump? Is he that scared of losing his base?
She does. She loves f’ing with trump. That particular tweet was in response to Daniel Horowitz’s opine re The Wall. She thinks she’s clever and witty, as does Limbaugh. Fear mongers. All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall….
I seriously resent that Anne Coulter made me agree with her.
Megan: If you see this, go to her twitter feed. She is going off on his stupidity with a vengeance. It’s great. He is so moronic, he claims he really doesn’t know who she is. Is it his ego, sociopathy, mental illness….which of these makes him lie through his teeth when there is a plethora of films, tapes, etc. which prove his lies on a regular. Even his ride and dies and drink the kool aids have to know this man has come undone. Geez……………..
Please Please stop it.
As a german I know Hitler wrote the modern dictators handbook; create a “them against us” mentality, get (democratically) elected, create a “emergency”, and abolish democracy by governing with emergency decrees, all with the argument to defend against a imaginary enemy.
The whole situation looks far too much like history repeating itself.
It’s really chilling.
Have I ever mentioned that I hate this humanoid shitstain with the heat of a thousand suns? Can’t remember.
Always bears repeating!
If we say it three times fast will it make him vanish forever?
Only if you click your heels together as you say it!
Join hands, Jerusha, I’ll say it with you. Perhaps there is strength/power in numbers. 👐🏻
Not sure the courts—plenty of them stacked with Emperor Zero picks—will abide by a “national emergency” that has been in flux for over two years…in any event, it would take months to resolve the legal issue and then perhaps years for eminent domain issues along the southern border to be resolved in courts.
My understanding is that EZ would steal money earmarked for 1) California wildfire relief, 2) Puerto Rico hurricane relief and 3) housing for military personnel (because he hates all three and they hate him in return).
Would be a wonderful day if Mueller or the SDNY made a bombing run today to change the course of Emperor Zero’s 243-lb life.
#FridayBombingRun
I was hoping for that too Eric. But I feel like if it is indictment friday it happens early, no?
His stealing money from CA and PR makes me so ill. He is straight up evil.
And the Republicans are all “praying” that Trump does the right thing. 😂🤣😂 Even God is laughing His ass off.
Prayers and thoughts going out to those Republicans. /s
To the reporter, whose name cannot be found on the internet, whose asked about this therefore putting the though in this idiot’s head because he would not have thought of it otherwise….I hate you and you need to quit your job.
There’s more chance of Trump being 243 than getting the wall.
I can say I’m 5’10”, 125 lbs., and have legs for days… doesn’t make it so. If he’s not at least 325, he’s not breathing.
My hate for this vile creature has actually lessoned. I’ve been riddled with hate and despondency since his campaign, but things have shifted for me. Quite frankly, he doesn’t deserve an emotional response from me anymore as he’s nothing. It’s exactly what was said above, he doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything except himself. My hate and despondency unfortunately continues and is directed at Congress, Republicans and the millions of crap people who listen, clap, respond, defend, and on and on.
Well, I guess we’ll find out pretty soon what he’s trying to distract us from now. Meanwhile, I heard that CA and AZ are rightly sending their National Guard troops home from the “crisis at the border” false alarm.
Just to make myself feel better, I looked at CNN’s list showing how Trump is being taken down (doesn’t include Roger Stone):
* 192 is the number of overall criminal counts brought by Mueller’s team to date
* 36 is the number of people and entities charged in the Mueller probe
* 7 is the number of people who have pleaded guilty in the investigation
* 4 is the number of people who have been sentenced to jail for their wrongdoing unearthed by Mueller
* 1 is the person (Paul Manafort) who was convicted of crimes sniffed out by Mueller’s team
The witch hunt is certainly finding a LOT of witches.
Almost 6AM Hawaii time, still no signed budget.
I tried listening to the announcement and managed 40 seconds and, like, five lies. Instead, I am currently blasting out Killing In the Name, much better.
I saw a youtube ad yesterday featuring our disgusting grifter in chief asking for money to build this stupid wall. He’s literally begging for money. And hard working people are going to give it to him if they haven’t already via the gofundme or other collection funds being set up. I doubt he’ll be able to crowdfund this but JFC does it bug that people are gleefully giving their money away for something this ridiculous. So much for being the party of fiscal responsibility. Bunch of idiots.
And others have said this but as someone who lives 45 minutes from the border in Southern Arizona I can say confidently that there is no national emergency, yet. I worry that if construction starts then we will be seeing some emergencies because deplorables will come here just to create problems. There is going to be resistance if they even try to build and MAGA psychos have shown they have no problem getting violent.
There was already a GoFundMe that returned the money to its donors.
GoFundMe itself returned the money, over $1 million, when it became clear the guy who set up the account wasn’t going to use it as stated and wasn’t returning the money.
I looked up the gofundme earlier and it’s still open and is at over 20 million. Plus there are other websites collecting money for the same reason but no clear indication of how this money will get to the government or any guarantee that it will be spent on the wall. The gofundme shows people are still donated by the minute. So sad and pathetic that people are still donating.
Don’t forget his base is made up with people who keep those televangelical criminals in their Bentleys and mansions. They are idiots.
He’s not going to get the money and it’s going to fail in courts. The GOP senate can’t support this because of the precedent it’ll set….the next President could say healthcare is a national emergency or gun violence is. They all know this is a slippery slope and he’s just doing this to save face.
I hope you’re right Gina. What a travesty if this goes through.
i wonder if today any of the Republicans are regretting that they have not stood up to Idiot Orange on anything. Hopefully they will finally show some character and backbone and not rubber stamp his “its a national emergency because I said so” plan.
That orange menace is managing to crack the republi-con party in half, and it couldn’t happen to a better group of people. Any Con that is up for re-election in 2020, better pray they are in a district so red that they don’t have to worry, because otherwise there is a good chance of losing that congressional seat if they approve this BS “emergency.”
The shutdown, income tax debacle, mid-west farmers going bankrupt due to tariffs, lay offs in manufacturing, and now a national “emergency” for a made-up cause? Finally, the chickens come home to roost and many more Cons will pay the price in the 2020 election. We might flip the Senate and get back the white house. . .
This will be tied up in court for DECADES. There are sections of the current fencing from the Bush administration that are still working their way through the court system.
All this jabroni did was try to make it look like it didn’t lose. And set things up for the next president-which is what the GOP is upset about
I don’t mind if tying it up in court delays the money going to the wall. I DO mind, however, if the court activity freezes the targeted funds so they can’t be used for CA or PR.
Does anyone know if the money has to be held while the courts do their thing? Or can it be used for its congressionally appropriated purpose in the meantime?
He has a history of not spending appropriated funds anyway but CA and PR can sue for it
just a note to dotard… Japan’s prime minister can opine on anything he wants — but he absolutely, positively has no say in who the nobel committee selects.
This was literally a plot line on House of Cards – evil narcissistic president Francis Underwood declares a state of emergency to steal money from FEMA to fund his pet scheme to cut all medicare/medicaid/other entitlements.
Scary times we live in where this is no longer fiction.
That photo is killing me. Should be on a putt putt green. 😂😂😂😂
Has anyone read the actual transcript of this today? My husband actually came and got me off the couch (snow day, binge watching the second season of “The Sinner”) to come and read it. It’s freaking all over the place unhinged; we were killing ourselves laughing. As a fellow Canadian remarked somewhere else, it’s like he usually sundowns around 6PM but it started this morning.