Donald Trump Declares State of Emergency When He Really Shouldn't Have - Clay

Should Donald Trump have declared a state of emergency in order to gain political power in a time where he didn’t really need it? By simply uttering the words “National Emergency”, Trump immediately unleashed dozens of statutory powers available to a president only during a state of emergency. The power of the nation's chief executive to declare such an emergency knows few restrictions — it was designed that way. The whole point of national emergencies is to be able to act swiftly in times of crisis, undettered by political power, ie. bypassing congress or the house in order to make a quick decision beneficial to the country concerning a time-sensitive issue. However, we need to ask ourselves: Was it really necessary to declare a national emergency to attempt to find funding for a border wall? In Trump’s hour long speech at the Rose Garden, he managed to avoid using just about every word that would have possibly helped his case. One federal statute, for example, authorizes military construction in the event of a national emergency, provided that the emergency "requires use of the armed forces" and is "necessary to support such use of the armed forces." Trump, however, did not say the words "require," "armed," or "forces" once during his lengthy speech.However, he did say necessary once when he said  "our military has been fantastic, and I want to thank them. And it's very necessary." In conclusion, based on his own words and surrounding evidence, a national emergency should not have been declared.