trump is serious!!!!!

[Econoline]

[MajGenl.Meade]

Trump practices for meeting with N. Korean leader saying, "It worked with Putin".

[RayThom]

Trump practices for meeting with N. Korean leader saying, "It worked with Putin"...

It's good to see Lord Dampnut doing warmups before the big meeting. He's less likely to cramp up in the clutch.

[Crackpot]

So is this for real or is McConnell looking to guide Trump into an error l?

[Sue U]

McConnell doesn't give a fuck about Trump or WALL or anything else but his own agenda, which right now, with a Democratic majority in the House, is ramming through the Senate as many right-wing judicial appointments as possible to stack the courts against the coming progressive Democrat governments. He can't afford another dumbass shut-down and doesn't need or want a constitutional separation-of-powers showdown with Trump getting in his way, particularly since Trump is otherwise such a useful distraction. If he actually wanted that fight, or cared about constitutional principles, he could have the Senate override any veto of the funding bill. But this way he gets the benefit of both a "working" government to move judicial appointments and support (or at least, no opposition) from the Trumpanzees and their howling media flaks. Whether Trump's WALL EMERGENCY survives in the courts is wholly irrelevant to McConnell. Frankly, it's also irrelevant to Trump, who only cares about WALL because it jazzes his base -- and to that extent he has created himself some campaign fodder whichever way the decision goes ("a great MAGA success" or "librul Clinton judges thwarting the will of the people").

This is all so fucking craven and transparent, and yet no one is bothering too much to inform the American people that it's just political kabuki purposely designed to put another one over on them.

[Lord Jim]

Whether Trump's WALL EMERGENCY survives in the courts is wholly irrelevant to McConnell. Frankly, it's also irrelevant to Trump, who only cares about WALL because it jazzes his base --

[Big RR]

You're both right, but I do think there are serious Consitutional issues here that should not be glibly dismissed by anyone. I have serious conerns about a president (any president) ignoring the legislature and going off on his/her own to implement the policies and behavior (s)he wants. IMHO this is the quickest route to thwarting the will of the people, and the legislature should stand up to it and reclaim its rightful place in the government. That the legislature does not act (whatever the reason), is NOT a justification for the president to act by autocratic executive orders or BS declarations of emergency, and I hope there are a lot more House members and Senators who see the serious danger of this and start doing their job. Face it, nearly every dictator initialy claimed (s)he had to act because of the deadlock in the legislature, and while I am not particularly concerned about Trump in this regard (I don't think he has the will of the intelligence to take this power), the thought terriifies me if a smarter person with those aims were the president.

I didn't have much respect for McConnell before, but I have absolutely none now; hopefully others in the senate will see what an ass he is and stand up against him.

[RayThom]

At this very moment he's droning on and on (over 30 minutes) rehashing everything he has said over the last weeks and months.

Give us a break.

I say... SHUT THE FUCK UP.

[Big RR]

good luck with that; the man loves the sound of his own voice.

[Crackpot]

Jim and Sue I disagree Trump wants the wall it is another in a long line of monuments to his ego. What he doesn’t care about is wether or not it works he just wants it there.

[eddieq]

The orange howler monkey just kept going on and on and on and on. It was almost like he was trying to convince himself. When confronted with real facts and a tough question, he got angry and told the reporter to sit down. Anyone surprised?

[Econoline]

[Sue U]

Jim and Sue I disagree Trump wants the wall it is another in a long line of monuments to his ego. What he doesn’t care about is wether or not it works he just wants it there.

He has no problem simply declaring it to be there -- he keeps saying it already exists. What he really wants is the three-syllable chant at his Nuremberg rallies.

[RayThom]

It's going to be glorious.



If contractors would only build a small section of a wall that looks like this I bet Lord Dampnut would go to his grave a happy idiot. And he wouldn't give a damn if ten drug loaded tunnels ran under it.

[BoSoxGal]

Jim and Sue I disagree Trump wants the wall it is another in a long line of monuments to his ego. What he doesn’t care about is wether or not it works he just wants it there.

He has no problem simply declaring it to be there -- he keeps saying it already exists. What he really wants is the three-syllable chant at his Nuremberg rallies.

He had them chanting ‘finish the wall’ in El Paso - because it’s already nearly done! Anyway four syllables doesn’t really resonate as well.

[Crackpot]

I have to wonder why this announcement started with Yertle. Trump isn’t the type to delegate these announcements and also not the type to walk back a claim and risk appearing weak. I also can’t see Mitch thinking this use of a “national emergency “ as a good idea in the long run. I do see it as a way to hobble the administration in a legal quagmire for an indefinite time while allowing the chinless wonder to score some rhetorical points while relieving himself of the burden of having to further push the Cheetos agenda

[Scooter]

[Econoline]

[Lord Jim]

I have to wonder why this announcement started with Yertle.

Based on what I've read, here's my take on how that happened...

Prior to the announcement, McConnell and Trump apparently spent a couple of hours on the phone. (That must have been a lot of fun for Mitch...)

During that time, McConnell made clear to Trump that another government shutdown was not an option; that he (McConnell) was going to put the conference committee compromise bill on the floor whether Trump agreed to support it or not, and it would pass by a veto proof margin. (Which would also happen in the House.) Then the agreement would be imposed on Trump whether he liked it or not.

However both Mitch and Trump had a vested interest in trying to avoid this scenario if it could be done. (For Trump this would have been the most humiliating outcome possible, and McConnell wanted to try to preserve the facade of Republican unity.)

So they eventually struck an agreement where Trump would sign the bill in exchange for McConnell publicly agreeing to support his "national emergency" and a sequence of events was worked out where Mitch would announce this support first, followed immediately by the White House announcement that Trump would sign the bill...

I also can’t see Mitch thinking this use of a “national emergency “ as a good idea in the long run.

That's definitely correct; McConnell had previously announced his opposition to it. What will happen next is that there will be a vote in the House, and then when a majority there votes to vacate the "national emergency" under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, there will be a mandatory vote (The law makes it a "privileged" measure. meaning that if the House passes it, the Senate is required to vote on it as well. Mitch doesn't have the option of killing it by just not bringing it to the floor.)

There are already about half a dozen GOP Senators opposed to the "national emergency" (including some immigration hardliners who agree with Trump about building the wall, but who oppose the national emergency route for building it because of the precedent they fear it would set for a future Democratic President to use that approach to fund their policy priorities.) so there will most likely be majority votes in both Houses opposing the "national emergency". Though it's unlikely either House will muster the 2/3 majority needed to actually block it.

That will then move the show to the courts. In his rambling, contradictory, lie-ridden semi-coherent press conference yesterday, (Does Trump ever have any other kind of press conference?) Trump seemed to be indicating that he would be dealing with a single court challenge, but he is (as usual) completely wrong...

He will in fact be dealing with multiple lawsuits...

The first one is likely to filed by the Speaker Of The House, but the governor of any state that would be effected by his diversion of Congressionally approved funds to his wall will have standing to sue, as will any private contractor whose contract is cancelled.

And then on the back end he'll be facing suits against any "eminent domain" actions he tries to take to obtain the land to build his wall...

Once again Donald Trump provides boom times for the legal profession...

[Lord Jim]

No Lawyer Left Behind...

Trump's declaration of national emergency hit with first lawsuits

- - -

The legal challenges came almost immediately.

On Friday, the advocacy group Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeking to block Trump's declaration on behalf of three Texas landowners and an environmental group.

"We just sued Trump over his fake national emergency," the group stated. "If Trump gets away with this, there's no telling what the next concocted 'emergency' will be, who will be targeted and what emergency powers will be claimed."

Another advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, sued the Department of Justice Friday for failing to provide documents - including legal opinions and communications - related to the president's decision to declare a national emergency.

"Americans deserve to know the true basis for President Trump's unprecedented decision to enact emergency powers to pay for a border wall," the group's executive director, Noah Bookbinder, said in a statement. "The Justice Department's inadequate response raises major questions about whether even the president's own administration believes there is a legal basis for him to bypass the constitutional authority granted to Congress to appropriate funds."

On Saturday evening, the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, filed another lawsuit in federal court, saying the president has failed to identify a legal authority to take such an action, "and Congress has not enacted any emergency legislation even remotely related to border wall construction, and thus the president's reallocation of funds is unlawful."

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said he planned to work with other states to take legal action against the White House. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was preparing a lawsuit for early next week, arguing that Trump cannot legally redirect taxpayer money during an "emergency" unless it's for military construction projects that support the armed forces.

More:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/g ... t-lawsuits