Not only is Trump declaring a national emergency, but reports are that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is endorsing Trump’s declaration.
If there are any Democrats left who don’t see in the so-called Republican Party the gravediggers of the American republic, it’s time for them to open their eyes. The Majority Leader of the United States Senate is condoning the usurpation of Congressional powers by the executive branch. By failing to defend the prerogatives of his institution, McConnell is throwing all his successors and all future Congresses under the proverbial bus. From this moment forward, Congress becomes little more than a debating society. The precedent is now set that any President can bypass Congress by manufacturing an “emergency” to get his or her way.
Does the debt ceiling need to be raised? Declare an emergency.
Do billionaires want another tax cut? Declare an emergency.
Are cities and states protecting people we don’t like from ICE goon squads? Declare an emergency.
Do not, for a minute, believe that this will stop with Trump’s stupid wall. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle, and we’re going to see a lot more of these “emergencies” going forward.
I am reminded of Article 48 in the German constitution of 1919, which allowed the President of the Reich, in an emergency, to legislate by decree. As the 1920’s gave way to the 1930’s, parliamentary dysfunction grew to the point that government under Article 48 became the norm, not the exception. Franz von Papen’s administration of 1932, the so-called “cabinet of barons”, never got a vote of confidence in the Reichstag, nor did its short-lived successor, the cabinet of Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher. Von Schleicher’s own successor, appointed on January 30, 1933, would solve the problem by persuading the Reichstag, in the wake of a mysterious fire that consumed its building, to grant him dictatorial powers…
Make no mistake: over the past twenty years we have seen a steady increase in the dysfunction of our legislative branch. First we saw George W. Bush’s “signing statements”, wherein he reserved the right to disregard legislation he didn’t like; Congress made nary a whimper over any of them. President Obama’s executive orders, issued in the face of a do-nothing Congress to get essential business done, were the next step; Republicans were quick enough to complain about them, but only because he wasn’t their President. Now comes Trump, asserting that there is a national emergency, and he can therefore spend federal dollars as he will, Congress be damned.
As I write these words, there are no mobs in the town common demanding Trump’s head. Business is going on as usual, and most Americans could care less; as low as Trump’s approval numbers are, Congress’s numbers are lower. I daresay we are not far off from the day when an Oliver Cromwell type will show up on the floor of the House or Senate and arrest everyone who won’t vote his way. McConnell himself may be one of the arrestees; if so, a lot of people here will cheer. But it won’t be a day for cheering.