February 16, 2019

"I want to do it faster. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster…. I just want to get it done faster, that’s all."

That's something Trump said while explaining his need to use emergency powers, and as MSNBC's Steve Benen puts it, it's "probably the one thing Trump will regret saying."

It will be used as evidence that not only that it's not an emergency but that at the time of deciding to rely on the concept of emergency, he himself did not believe it's an emergency.

Of course, the lawsuits have already started.

85 comments:

rhhardin said...

It says doing it slower wouldn't work.

David Begley said...

Lots of lawyers here. I say Trump’s unsworn and uncrossexamined statements at a press conference are inadmissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence. I recall SCOTUS making that point in the travel ban case.

stevew said...

"I want to do it faster."

"I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster."

"I just want to get it done faster, that's all."

Why faster? Because there's an emergency situation at the border, of course.

Illuninati said...

My understanding is that the power to declare an emergency is by law the sole province of the President and no one else. If he says there is an emergency, that makes it so, regardless of what anyone else might think.

Amexpat said...

It's well known that Trump often free associates. Words are used to emote or bolster his ego. They are not used as a statement of intent or to reflect honestly what he believes the truth to be. Therefore, whatever he says can't be used against him.

Tank said...

As noted by Razor via Insty:

CURRENTLY ACTIVE NATIONAL EMERGENCIES
(BY DECLARING POTUS)

Carter
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Bush
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Obama
Trump
Trump
Trump: UNPRECEDENTED

Howard said...

Blogger Illuninati said...

My understanding is that the power to declare an emergency is by law the sole province of the President and no one else. If he says there is an emergency, that makes it so, regardless of what anyone else might think.


Of course that's exactly what the Illuminati want

traditionalguy said...

The 1976 Act's delegation of power to the elected President is not a delegation of power to a political appointed Federal Judge who declares that it should be his power to declare emergencies.

As Dersh points out, the sole remedy to a bad President is Impeachment, or maybe a FBI/ military coup that kills the elected President...or maybe use a CIA missile to shoot down Air Force One...no, wait that one didn't work. Drats, they may just have to wait another 20 months and win an election.

Howard said...

Tank going with soap opera logic via instapussy

Wince said...

Trump “didn’t need to do this” (declare an emergency) in order to build a wall over time across several budget years, but he did want to complete it in time to meet the urgent need he exercised his power to declare.

Kevin said...

What is the evidence it’s not an emergency except the statements by Schumer and Pelosi?

Border crossings are down? Crossings by families are up, making the legal, humanitarian, and detention situation much more complex.

Seriously. There is no counterargument, just political statements by the opposition party.

The fact they’re parsing Trump’s statements for anything they can use tells you the weakness of their argument.

Howard said...

Blogger Amexpat said...

It's well known that Trump often free associates. Words are used to emote or bolster his ego. They are not used as a statement of intent or to reflect honestly what he believes the truth to be. Therefore, whatever he says can't be used against him.


Invoking the Retard Exception. Makes sense.

WintersTale said...

My understanding is that the power to declare an emergency is by law the sole province of the President and no one else. If he says there is an emergency, that makes it so, regardless of what anyone else might think.

Sad. Americans used to despise the idea of having a king. Not so much anymore.

WintersTale said...

he did want to complete it in time to meet the urgent need he exercised his power to declare.

So it's not a national emergency, it's an "urgent need."

AllenS said...

There's nothing wrong with what Trump said.

WintersTale said...

"What is the evidence it’s not an emergency"

And there's an interesting approach. Congress has to "prove it's not an emergency." Kings.

Howard said...

Blogger AllenS said...

There's nothing wrong with what Trump said.


In Trump world, there is no right and wrong.

Howard said...

Blogger WintersTale said...

"What is the evidence it’s not an emergency"

And there's an interesting approach. Congress has to "prove it's not an emergency." Kings.


You need to get out more. The cucks on this board are quickly being demographically term limited. Trump is their last orgasm before wearing depends

Mr. Majestyk said...

I wonder if those criticising Trump on this issue will now support amending the National Emergencies Act to narrow the circumstances when a president can declare an emergency.

WintersTale said...

"There's nothing wrong with what Trump said."

Principles compromised much?

WintersTale said...

I wonder if those criticising Trump on this issue will now support amending the National Emergencies Act to narrow the circumstances when a president can declare an emergency.

I'm not real smart about these things but I thought, after Trump lost in the courts, it was a given.

Browndog said...

You can choose to interpret the statement as 'there is no emergency'.

Fact is, if Congress had acted, "he wouldn't need to do this."

Trump's statement is factual. The "We got him now!" crowd is very excitable.

Big Mike said...

@WintersTale, regarding principles, not so many when it comes to the safety of American citizens. Now you need to “Exheunt, pursued by a bear.”

Darrell said...

The cost of illegal immigration is between $113 and $173 billion. That sounds urgent to me. And you know the Democrats are all about reducing deficits now--so it should be their number one concern, too.

roesch/voltaire said...

There was money in the bill to continue building the wall, which could be increased at later date, but for a man who cheats on his PG wife it is never enough.

WintersTale said...

You can choose to interpret the statement as 'there is no emergency'.

Fact is, if Congress had acted, "he wouldn't need to do this."

Trump's statement is factual. The "We got him now!" crowd is very excitable.



Trump didn't say "I didn't need to do this but Congress did not act." He said "I didn't need to do this I just wanted to get it done faster, THAT'S ALL."

"That's all." Get it?

Darrell said...

Saving just one life sounds like an emergency to any sane person. Granted, that leaves Democrats out.

Tank said...

Howard comes out against logic.

Bob Boyd said...

John tries to stab Bill in a fight. Bill is cut, but Dave stops the fight.

Dave says, "Maybe we should call 911."

John says, "You don't need to call 911. Here's a band-aid."

Dave says, "I think I should call 911."

John says, "No. This isn't an emergency. Bill's hardly hurt. 911 is for real emergencies. If you call 911 you'll get in trouble for a false report."

Dave calls 911. The cops come and an ambulance.

Dave says to the cops. "I guess I could have just driven him to the hospital, but he was bleeding, so I thought..."

John says, "See! You should arrest Dave for a false report."

WintersTale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Browndog said...

He didn't want to wait for a new Congress to address the emergency at the border. Get it?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I say Trump’s unsworn and uncrossexamined statements at a press conference are inadmissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence.

I think you are right. I remember during the ObamaCare court fight, I never understood how the Government argued and SCOTUS agreed that the program was a tax. Obama had been running around telling everyone the mandate was not a tax.

I didn't understand how the attorneys could argue something their client denied and how the Court could ignore that denial

Gary said...

There has never been a president in response to Congress refusing to fund his project who declares a national emergency and uses billions Congress appropriated for other projects.
I would think that conservatives here who believe in the Constitution could explain why this is a terrible precedent and against the American rule of law and separation of powers. I even expect the Roberts Court to rule against him.
Of course, this is not a national emergency as even he admits. Border crossings are down 75%, drugs and undocumented immigrants are not coming through where the wall will be.
The most comparable event to this is the Reagan Iran-Contra scandal and his White House had the sense to try to do it in secret. Quite a few people were convicted of crimes for that one before a Republican pardoned them.

Unknown said...

We could think of the simpleton McCain and Romney "bipartisan" reaching across the aisle as "2-d" negotiation

But Trump is doing "3-d" negotiation, bringing the public into a diversionary tactic

By saying he will declare and emergency,
but not needing or actually doing it

- creates time pressure
- makes him the center of attention, the JR Ewing of the narrative
- dominates the thinking of Scott Adams "dale", the literalist nattering nabobs of negativity he's counting on to make him look good

From another perspective:
https://twitter.com/conncarroll/status/1096507435257348096
Some quick notes on early coverage of President Trump's announcement today that pretty much all reporters are missing. The WH did not make one executive action today. In reality they made three, only one of which involved an emergency declaration.
First the WH announced they would be funding $601 million in wall construction from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, relying on 31 U.S.C. § 9705. This does not require an emergency declaration.
Second, the WH announced they would be funding $2.5 billion in wall construction under 10 U.S.C. § 284 (this is MilCon $ for combating drug trafficking). This does not require an emergency declaration.
Finally, the WH announced they would be funding $3.6 billion under 10 U.S.C. § 2808. This money does require an emergency declaration.
According to the WH this money will be spent sequentially so the § 9705 money will be spent first then the § 284 money then the § 2808 money.
So depending on how fast they can begin construction, they will have to spend over $5 billion (including the $1.3 billion in fencing appropriations) before any of the emergency money is ever tapped

Unknown said...

> a diversionary tactic

If he just took the non-emergency $5G, the public would be fighting over that... by taking $8G, including emergency funds, the fighting occurs over a part he doesn't even need.

Picture his smirk...

Unknown said...

> There has never been a president in response to Congress refusing to fund his project who declares a national emergency and uses billions Congress appropriated for other projects.
> I would think that conservatives here who believe in the Constitution could explain why this is a terrible precedent and against the American rule of law and separation of powers. I even expect the Roberts Court to rule against him.

Hi Dale, you make a lot of great points about the need for purity of an fundamentally impure process...

We often hear that taxes need to be "fair"...

Henry said...

He should have called it "shovel ready"

Gary said...

Darell is repeating Trump lies, except when Trump has increased those figures by a hundred billion on the economic costs.
How about some truth : A review of the academic literature by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that "over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants—both legal and unauthorized—exceed the cost of the services they use." While the overall fiscal impact on the US is beneficial, unauthorized immigrants have an adverse impact on the budgets of state and local governments.
Beneficial means they provide more taxes and economic benefits than they cost in services, unlike most Trump supporters who seem to live on government paychecks and are in states that are net drains on the federal budget.



WintersTale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Browndog said...

Gary said...

Of course, this is not a national emergency as even he admits.


Care to share that quote? I've seen him say a dozen times it was an emergency, so I'd like to when he changed his mind. You're not putting words in his mouth, are you?

Gary said...

Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits

A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found immigration “has an overall positive impact on the long-run economic growth in the U.S.”

From the Nice Polite Republicans at PBS, socially liberal, economically conservative:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/4-myths-about-how-immigrants-affect-the-u-s-economy

Robert Cook said...

"Why faster? Because there's an emergency situation at the border, of course."

Except, there isn't.

Dave Begley said...

I won a case in the Eighth Circuit based on excluding some evidence. I also wrote a law review article on a case involving admissible evidence. The rules are important! Important to know and important to use.

Robert Cook said...

"What is the evidence it’s not an emergency except the statements by Schumer and Pelosi?"

What is the evidence it is an emergency, except the statement by Trump?

Guildofcannonballs said...

Trump is getting the Commies to limit the power of future potUSs, the power the Commies will demand as their right with bullets and bombs within months of next taking high office.

In the meantime, yet another campaign promise fulfilled by the most honest and successful (for the country and himself, natch) potUS in history.

I AIN'T NO WAY TARRED OF WINNIN'!

Fritz said...

How about some truth : A review of the academic literature by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that "over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants—both legal and unauthorized—exceed the cost of the services they use." While the overall fiscal impact on the US is beneficial, unauthorized immigrants have an adverse impact on the budgets of state and local governments.
Beneficial means they provide more taxes and economic benefits than they cost in services, unlike most Trump supporters who seem to live on government paychecks and are in states that are net drains on the federal budget.


So is the point of allowing illegal immigration to get more tax revenue? Then why not just conquer Mexico and subject them all to the Federal income tax?

Fritz said...

Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits

A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found immigration “has an overall positive impact on the long-run economic growth in the U.S.”


How much of that tax revenue would be generated by US citizens if they weren't being displaced by cheaper illegals?

Essentially unknowable, but hardly insignificant.

Lucien said...

@Gary:

Unfortunately the politically correct term “immigrants” neuters your statement. Most Americans like legal immigrants. One wonders whether illegals contribute more than they take. Since you and the tame PBS Republicans dodge that question, one assumes the answer is no. (One also wonders how illegal aliens can pay income taxes without uttering forged documents or Social Security numbers to defraud the taxing authorities. (So that they are all felons.))

Guildofcannonballs said...

It is clear we've got bigots in our midst, what with all the proof and all of Puerto Ricans getting shafted by illegal aliens and nobody caring enough to help support border security which will limit the damage the future will inevitably unfold.

--Likewise, since these thieves are using real names, social security numbers, and birth certificates, actual American citizens are being harmed when they need help. As noted by the Boston Herald “one of the victims learned his problems were just beginning when he applied for a government housing subsidy after Hurricane Maria wiped out his house in Puerto Rico last fall, “and was told he was already receiving (public housing benefits) 1,600 miles away in Massachusetts.”--

You Puerto Rico haters are some sick bastages.

May God have mercy.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2018/07/29/22-illegal-aliens-arrested-in-identity-fraud-scheme-n2504580

Darrell said...

The $113 billion estimate is from FAIR, not Trump. Gary can 't even spell my name when he is looking at it, so why would anyone rely on something he said?

MartyH said...

Gary-

Your sources lump legal and illegal immigration together. It wasn’t an Engineer on an H1B visa who carjacked a vehicle in my neighborhood and killed two police officers.

Big Mike said...

May God have mercy.

May God deny His mercy and May they burn in the everlasting fires of Hell.

Darrell said...

It is an emergency when Democrats refuse to follow the law and the Constitution.

MountainMan said...

"What is the evidence it’s not an emergency except the statements by Schumer and Pelosi?"

What is the evidence it is an emergency, except the statement by Trump?

Here si a link to the current CBP web page showing fiscal 2019 unauthorized border apprehensions compared, month-by-month, for the previous 5 years. Initially, following Trump’s inauguration, they dropped dramatically. The numbers climbed through 2018 and have now returned to 5-year highs, close to the very high numbers of 2014, with only a few previous months higher than the current levels. I would call that a crisis. The idea being promoted that border crossings are way down is usually based on 2017 data. People need to be looking at current data, which is reported monthly and readily available at this link. It if frustrating that people continue to get widespread coverage of out-of-date information that is inaccurate to our current situation when the correct data is so easily obtained.

Mrs. X said...

From the Heritage Foundation:

The governmental system is highly redistributive. Well-educated households tend to be net tax contributors: The taxes they pay exceed the direct and means-tested benefits, education, and population-based services they receive. For example, in 2010, in the whole U.S. population, households with college-educated heads, on average, received $24,839 in government benefits while paying $54,089 in taxes. The average college-educated household thus generated a fiscal surplus of $29,250 that government used to finance benefits for other households.

Other households are net tax consumers: The benefits they receive exceed the taxes they pay. These households generate a “fiscal deficit” that must be financed by taxes from other households or by government borrowing. For example, in 2010, in the U.S. population as a whole, households headed by persons without a high school degree, on average, received $46,582 in government benefits while paying only $11,469 in taxes. This generated an average fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of $35,113.

The high deficits of poorly educated households are important in the amnesty debate because the typical unlawful immigrant has only a 10th-grade education. Half of unlawful immigrant households are headed by an individual with less than a high school degree, and another 25 percent of household heads have only a high school degree.



https://www.heritage.org/immigration/report/the-fiscal-cost-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty-the-us-taxpayer

Defenseman Emeritus said...

Gary said:

How about some truth : A review of the academic literature by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office

The CBO may be nonpartisan; the "academic literature," written by "academics" in the humanities who skew from 10-1 liberal vs. conservative to 35-1 depending on the subdiscipline, most assuredly is not.

Bay Area Guy said...

The "Open Borders" crowd toggling back and forth from lax enforcement policy to specious legal legerdemain.

Elections have consequences, said one wise Pol.

MartyH said...

MountainMan-

The interesting fact about you link is that there are about half a million border apprensions a year! Half a million!

Big Mike said...

Beyond what Mrs. X writes, illegals are also physically dangerous. I’m not just talking about MS-13 and their penchant for raping young girls and hacking people to death with machetes. I am also thinking about people who create dangerous situations because they are illiterate in the language in which traffic control signs are printed — there’s a reason why the sign says “ no right turn on red,” for instance, or “yield to pedestrian in crosswalk.”

Big Mike said...

A note to the Open Borders crowd: Kate Steinle and Mollie Tibbetts died for your sins.

Charlie Currie said...

Blogger WintersTale said...
My understanding is that the power to declare an emergency is by law the sole province of the President and no one else. If he says there is an emergency, that makes it so, regardless of what anyone else might think.

"Sad. Americans used to despise the idea of having a king. Not so much anymore."

Congress, the People's Representative, gave the President this power in 1976. So, when you say, anymore, you mean, since 1976.

Ray - SoCal said...

Uniparty at work.

Per Breitbart, the Senate GOP people did not care about immigration, so they gave away the store on policy, and got a little money. They were focused on fiscal / money.

Interesting how the wants of the American voters is being ignored by congress. They want border control.

My daughter just texted me an Atlantic cover she saw, that said "Impeach". I feel like I am living in a different world.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/

n.n said...

A wall reduces the burden on the border patrol and the time needed for the National Guards to support their position.

n.n said...

How much of that tax revenue would be generated by US citizens if they weren't being displaced by cheaper illegals?

Essentially unknowable, but hardly insignificant.


We know that when illegal aliens were deported from, I believe it was Arizona, that Americans and legal immigrants were hired in their place, which means that their income and assets were taxed for social security, Medicare, Medicaid/Obamacare, public schools, etc.

n.n said...

Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits

The latest tact by anti-Americans and transhumans is to conflate legal and illegal immigration, presumably to cove-up labor arbitrage, immigration reform (e.g. refugee crises, trail of tears in social justice zones), selective-child replacement, and insult black, brown, yellow, orange, and white (i.e. "diverse") Americans.

Hyphenated American said...

Obama gave money to insurance companies, even though congress did not authorize it.
He also gave work permits to millions of illegal aliens.

It means Trump can spend money on the wall as he pleases.
These are the rules of the game today.

Hyphenated American said...

“Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits”

We don’t even know know how many illegal aliens are in jail today, let alone how many illegal aliens in USA.
And conflating legal immigrants and illegal aliens is laughable.

Seeing Red said...

Get it done faster! We can’t have that or there might actually be shovel-ready jobs, America might work better and the administrative state might be exposed and some lose their jobs.

Then what happens?

I’ve worked in the private sector — they expect results."

Mark said...

Ask minorities who were born in the U.S., and who have an ancestral history of oppression that has caused lasting economic harm to them, what they think about illegal aliens coming and undercutting them in jobs.

Robert Cook said...

”How much of that tax revenue would be generated by US citizens if they weren't being displaced by cheaper illegals?”

How many Americans are being displaced from jobs by illegal illigrants?

Big Mike said...

How many Americans are being displaced from jobs by illegal illigrants?

Tens of millions; pity you’re not one of them or you’d have a touch of empathy.

Robert Cook said...

”Tens of millions; pity you’re not one of them or you’d have a touch of empathy.”

Where are your sources for this figure?

LA_Bob said...

Unknown said, "Picture his smirk..."

I'm glad you posted the link to the conncarroll tweets. Assuming they're all correct, I feel much better about Trump's strategy. He may be truly be outmaneuvering the opposition. I'm good with that.

Trump is just misunderestimated...

Mark said...

I've read stories of how in some workplaces, when there is news that ICE is coming around, entire factories empty out.

LA_Bob said...

Gary,

By your logic that immigrants contribute more than they cost, then come one, come all. Open the floodgates!

If we can trust that such studies are

a) well-designed,
b) well-executed, and
c) correctly interpreted,

do we have any studies that suggest a reasonable maximum number of immigrants to be allowed into the country before the increasing population becomes a burden?

Mark said...

Here is a logic puzzler for you --

If there is an open job and person IA fills the position, is person B able to have the job?

If there are tens of millions of IAs who have jobs, the proof of which is that they are reported to pay income taxes, are tens of millions of Bs able to have those jobs? Or have they been displaced from the marketplace?

Jim at said...

Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits

Fact: Bullshit

Michael K said...

the typical unlawful immigrant has only a 10th-grade education.

When I was reviewing workers comp claims in CA, about 1/3 were illegals. Many did not speak Spanish, let alone English. Most claimed a second grade education in Mexico.

Guildofcannonballs said...

If it helps, think of dimensions as generations.

Trump wants, at least, 7 more dimensions of Trump.

He has planned it.

What generational plans do you have?

The world has societies that appreciate the generational aspects, Tibet comes to mind, so Trump was forced, decades ago, to understand why.

What were you forced to understand why, and why?

Gk1 said...

I think Trump should name individual panels of the wall with the victims of illegal immigration. Have each Angel mom there at a ribbon cutting ceremony as the wall goes up piece by piece. Kind of like how you can buy a brick with your name on it for a memorial. Maybe encase a photo of the loved one that mowed down by an illegal drunk driver or MS13 gang banger.

Guildofcannonballs said...

--after Hurricane Maria wiped out his house in Puerto Rico last fall, “and was told he was already receiving (public housing benefits) 1,600 miles away in Massachusetts.”----

This is the Al Solyschinetixneemsizpom of The Gulag Archipelago coming true where the humiliation is the key, what inspires the Commie troops to laugh and mock and ridicule The Other and make sure nobody but nobody steps out of line, ever.

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2018/07/29/22-illegal-aliens-arrested-in-identity-fraud-scheme-n2504580

Guildofcannonballs said...

The poker player never says "damn that ignorant winner's luck" they understand the need to understand why others perceive the win as one based on other than deception but, separately even if known by a different name, luck.

Luck, thereby, is one of the greatest terms ever.

If you know why people, people who should know better, not 37 year olds.....


Oh shit.

I shoulda been a candid ender. Instead of what I am, which is a nobody.

Gospace said...


Blogger Robert Cook said...

How many Americans are being displaced from jobs by illegal illigrants?


Every job that an illegal immigrant holds is a job that a citizen or legal immigrant has been displaced from. Maybe no citizen was willing to take the job because it paid too little. To hire legally, that employer would have to cough up more money. If one employer saves money by hiring illegals, then to compete, every other company in that business has to hold down wages for legal workers in order to compete. Reducing tax revenue and wages. There are all kinds of societal harm from illegal immigration, some measurable, some not. That it is illegal is sufficient reason to stop it and evict those already here.

Ray - SoCal said...

Mexico and El Salvador compulsory education ends st age 24.

And about 35% don’t even finish middle school.

20th grade statistic sounds fishy, but there are a lot of non Hispanic illegal aliens here that have a higher education level.