Congress will put Trump's 'emergency' under a spotlight

To The Daily Sun,

It is Donald Trump, not his detractors, that is damaging America. Intelligence community experts say so. Top law enforcement experts say so. Foreign policy experts say so. Environmental experts say so. Climatologists say so. Immigration experts say so. Trade experts say so. Establishment conservatives say so. Educators say so. NATO experts and retired military brass say so. Health care experts say so. Sociologists say so.

Our standing in the world has plummetted under Trump. Look no further than recent conferences in Europe. In Munich, Mike Pence came to the podium and excitedly told the audience that he bore, "greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump!" Expecting it to be an applause line, it was met with dead silence. In Warsaw, Pence tried another applause line, calling for Europe to join the U.S. in withdrawing from the Iran deal to better the lives of Iranians. Again, dead silence. But when Joe Biden was introduced, a gushing introduction, and rapturous applause. Speaking of our deteriorating relationships with our allies, Mr. Biden said, "This too shall pass," and asserted, "We will be back."

Further endangering the world, Trump is pulling out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This could trigger another cold war with a new arms race especially if the U.S. puts missiles back in Europe. Putin has warned that he will target our command cities and the countries where the missiles are deployed. At the Munich conference, Merkel also repudiated Trump’s “America First” attitude, urging, "strong international alliances, continued contributions to development in struggling countries and international economic cooperation". Merkel is the adult and leader of the western world now.

Trump's obsession with a wall is also going to endanger us more. With his fake national emergency, he plans on taking $2.5 billion from the Defense Department's drug interdiction program for his wall. You read that right. He also wants to take $3.5 billion from the military's construction budget, which is very problematic because there are rules about military vs civilian construction. If he can access those funds, they could come from defense intelligence centers, military readiness training, and F-35 maintenance facilities and hangars. You read that right, too.

As of this writing, 16 states, the ACLU, Public Citizen, representing landowners, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Legal Defense Fund have filed suit against Trump's maneuver around Congress on constitutional grounds. After the recess, the U.S. House will pass a resolution against it and send it to the Senate. Then the House will convene hearings on the so-called emergency and put officials under the spotlights. Then the House will likely also sue the administration. All this may go well into the election year before it is decided.

James Veverka

Tilton