Martin Gelin: Sign of political weakness, not strength

To Trump announces a state of national emergency may be considered as a substantial step in the authoritarian direction for the united states. It can have legal consequences for the Trump and the White house. The background is that Trump failed in its most important election promise: to build a comprehensive wall along the U.S.'s southern border and get Mexico to pay for it. More than 200 times has he promised this literally, but congress has refused to fund the Trumps project.

For Trump, it was impossible to accept that gränsmuren not funded in the new budget agreement, but he had yet to write in it because the alternative would have been to shut down the federal government again, which would have been politically damaging.

instead, he now to this extremely controversial measure to build the great wall. It was at the same time expected, then the White house has long been preparing for this. Chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has spent the last few months to review the resources to move from other authorities to be able to build gränsmuren, if Trump would proclaim nödtillstånd.

this is mainly to keep the mask after a political defeat. Opinion polls during the winter clearly shows that the american people see Trump as the weaker party in the negotiations on the myndighetskrisen. In a recent survey from the conservative Fox News said 45 per cent to Nancy Pelosi seemed to be stronger than Donald Trump in the negotiations, while just 35 percent said that the Trump seemed to be stronger.

Trumps förhandlingsmetoder for the financing of the gränsmuren have not been successful. He had two years to convince his own party, who controlled congress, both chambers, to finance the project, but never got through it. When the democrats regained the majority in the house of representatives realized the Trump that the time was running out to fund the gränsmuren, which resulted in this winter's chaotic negotiations.

For each step in the negotiations were, however, Trump less, not more, money to the gränsmuren. The final budget contained less money than the original proposals.

– There is no chance that this can be spun into a victory for the republicans, said Mark Meadows, a conservative republican, earlier in the week. He described the agreement as “a complete defeat” for the republicans and Trump and a waste of time.

Trump is now launching nationally with states of emergency in order to get through his most important projects is a sign of political weakness, disguised as strength. The formal Donald Trump right to do so here. Since 1976, there has been a law, the National Emergencies Act, which gives the president the right to declare a state of national emergency. The law does not define the criteria for an emergency and it does not require any proof of the president.

– There are few legal restrictions on his ability to do it, honestly, even if there is no real crisis, " says Elizabeth Goitein, a security expert at the Brennan Center, to the u.s. NPR.

to declare a state of emergency allowed the president the opportunity to make use of, for example, the defence budget for military construction projects.

the power to stop a president who announces the national emergency condition in order to implement the laws, regulations or reforms that lack support in congress. It was no later than 2005, when George W Bush tried to declare states of emergency after hurricane Katrina, in an attempt to reduce the payment of wages for federal employees, which was stopped by the democrats in congress.

the Democrats promise to wage war on Trumps decision with all legal means. Chuck Schumer, the democratic president of the senate, called Trump's action ”lawless”. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, a democrat from New York, calling it “a blatant abuse of power” and promised to sue the president. The decision also split the republicans, then a small but important group of republicans do not seem ready to stand behind Trump on this issue. Senator Susan Collins, republican from Maine, called Trump's decision a “mistake”. Senator Marco Rubio said that it “sets a dangerous precedent“.

Any finished wall will not be built solely with this emergency measure. It is unlikely that the resources that the White house collects will be enough for such an extensive project. However, the Trumps crimes against the earlier norms for the sitting presidents to have consequences for american politics for the foreseeable future.

Democrat Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, said that Trumps the breach of the government's standards opens the door for the next president arbitrarily to be able to use the same tactics to implement domestic policy objectives.

According to the Washington Post went to the Trump not to accept the congressional new budgetöverenskommelse until he got word from Mitch McConnell and White House legal advisers that it would still go to declare a state of emergency to build the great wall. McConnell thus has sanctioned this extreme measure. He hinted as late as last week that it would be a huge mistake for Trump to take such a extreme measure, but he has now chosen to once again dance after the president's barrel.

Read more: Fierce criticism of the Trumps national emergency

Read more: Trump approving the budget – but announces a state of national emergency