On the same day that President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund the government through the remainder of this fiscal year, he also declared a national emergency that ostensibly gave him the power to build a wall between the United States and Mexico along our southern border. The funding bill Trump signed -- passed overwhelmingly by both Houses of Congress -- included some money for his nonsensical wall. Just not as much as he had demanded. But in a fit of arrogance befitting a childish temper tantrum, Trump declared his phony “emergency” despite all evidence to the contrary. 

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Trump sycophants like Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the tea party caucus in the House, claimed that Congress refused to act on Trump’s funding demand. That is wrong. Congress did act. They provided $1.38 billion for a portion of the wall, but they refused to give him the $5.7 billion he had demanded. The Trump administration cried foul. But as author Don Winslow said, “The Trump administration is like the Corleones -- except everyone is Fredo.” 

Declaring a national emergency should serve to mobilize the country, but a majority -- especially those who live along the southern border -- know that an emergency there does not exist. Why is it that support for Trump’s wall decreases the closer you get to the border? A higher percentage of support for the wall can be found in North Dakota than in Texas. Like a carnival barker, Trump claims a wall is needed to stop illegal immigration, crime, and to halt the flow of illegal drugs. Based on this “logic,” his wall would reduce these acts to zero. 



Data produced by his own administration does not support Trump’s conclusions. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 415,517 undocumented entrants were stopped at the southern border in 2017. Compare that number to the more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants -- most from Canada -- in the country who have overstayed their visas. Indeed, during the first six months of 2018, seven individuals with suspected ties to terrorist groups were taken into custody at our southern border. That number pales in comparison to the 41 taken into custody crossing our northern border.  A wall across our northern border, anyone? Perhaps that’s because most Canadians look like the majority of Americans. 

Or consider the illegal drug numbers provided by Trump’s Homeland Security Department. According to their data, 90 percent of the heroin, 88 percent of the cocaine, 87 percent of the methamphetamine and 80 percent of the fentanyl in the U.S comes through our ports of entry. Only 10 percent crosses between border entries. We need more inspectors and better technology at the ports of entry, not a wall in the desert. And opioids, a drug category that U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee helped green-light, do not make the list.  

Trump is a master at branding, but in this case, he is peddling horse manure. A nation rallies in times of emergencies. Not so much this time. The American people oppose what he is doing by a 61 percent to 36 percent margin. Rarely do most people agree with anything Ann Coulter says, but when she said that “the only national emergency is that our president is an idiot,” many found themselves in agreement. 


Trump’s declaration of a national emergency when none exists was solely for the purpose of bypassing Congress to give himself a campaign issue. There are those who will be with him regardless of the facts. The “never abandon Trump” crowd will never leave him when he abandons core conservative principles like limited government, fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law. That is not why they voted for him. Most voted for him because he played to their racist bigotry and their sexism. And he delivers for them daily.