“A National Emergency?”

I have paused for a time in making any comment on President Trump, simply to see how the government shutdown about which I last spoke would finally resolve.  To the credit of both the Democratic House and the Republican Senate, a compromise was passed which will allow for funding of our government for a few more months.  Come September, we will be back at all this once again!

Until Friday morning, I celebrated the fact President Trump was allowing the normal democratic process to unfold, and when a compromise bill was developed by representative leaders of both houses of Congress, he could then legitimately endorse and sign this bill.  To my horror, on Friday morning, February 15, 2019, at 10:00 AM, President Trump declared a national emergency in order to fund his unpopular and unnecessary border wall with Mexico.  Apparently, and this remains to be seen, given the legal challenges which are emerging, he will steal about $6 billion from other government agencies, including funding for national disasters and some from defense to fulfill his campaign promise of building a Mexican border wall.  This is being done in spite of abundant advice regarding a dangerous grab of power from both houses of Congress and money from programs already passed by our elected representatives.  This “Imperial President,” with his mercurial and highly unpredictable personality, has created even more chaos and unease regarding his leadership of our government!

It is said in some commentaries, while this grab for power may help the President get re-elected, it may not help the Republicans retain control of the Senate, as some twenty (20) Republican Senate races are to be decided in 2020.  Some moderate Republicans, of the few remaining in the Republican Party, if they endorse the President’s “national emergency” on the border wall, could easily become casualties in the next election.  Swing three, four, five or more seats to the Democrats in the Senate and this may be enough to shift the balance of legislative power away from Republican control.  So what is “good for the President” may be “bad for the Republican Party.”  This President’s stubbornness and stupidity shows a wholesale disregard by the President for the well-being of his own party.  He may win the battle on the border wall and lose the war for the nation’s heart!  These are indeed strange times in American politics, or shall we say “American theater.”

This spectacle of chaotic leadership is something that has not been often seen in the White House.  This lack of respect by this President for the need for separation of powers and the honoring of democratic process does not bode well for the future of our democracy, indeed for any of us at all!  I remain amazed and wholly surprised at how little check and balances have been placed on this rogue President.  Are we really this blind to the destructive powers of the leadership of this President?  I have before called his agenda a “wasting disease”, “a cancer” which is “killing us” and our democratic ideals.  I have run out of language strong enough to describe the horror I feel at what is happening to and in our government.  If I had not witnessed all these terrible acts of bad government with my own eyes, I would not have believed it were possible for any man to do this many bad and horrible things to the nation we all love in such a short period of time!

There is very little left that can be said.  As the President himself said, his “national emergency” will face many legal challenges and will eventually end up at the Supreme Court.  The President believes since he has appointed a strict conservative judge, this judge will always side with him in the 5 to 4 rulings of the court.  I wonder if this will always be so for this President.  The justices of the Supreme Court are honorable women and men.  I do not think they will simply rule on whether a matter fits their own conservative agenda or not.  Something more basic is at stake in this situation.  This is a question of the legal separation of powers of the President and the Congress.  Who has the right to set budgetary priorities?  Who controls the power of the purse?  If the President can exercise this type of control, of what need is the Senate and the House of Representatives?  How long we will survive in this democracy with only the Judicial and the Executive branches of government remaining?  If the President can do “an end run” around congressional oversight, is there anything he cannot do?

I feel God has given us a true test of our democracy.  We have been close to here, but we have never been “here” before.

As I have prayed long and hard for this President, I now realize he is not the problem.  He is a symptom of the problem, but he is not the problem.  The problem is, there is no one who is able to bring checks and balances upon this President.  If he ignores Congress and obtains the endorsement of the Supreme Court for his “national emergency” there will be nothing he cannot do.  But our nation never wanted nor intended to elect a Caesar nor a king!

I wonder if our democracy is resilient enough to pass through this terrible time of testing for us all.  I don’t know any more.  Once I had confidence we might throw off this devil.  Now, I am becoming aware we really like him.  He provides entertainment for our daily news.  He ignores all our democratic processes and suffers no punishment for it.  He has no discipline and he wants none.

I once heard it said, in a democracy, “We (the electorate) always get what we want and also what we deserve!”  Apparently Trump is what we want.  As to what we deserve, I suppose he must be that as well!

Bill Wilson, “a concerned citizen of the United States of America”

February 16, 2019