that s all he has to do to appease his base. this is a 2020 emergency for trump. he s been tanking in the polls, he knows mueller investigation coming up, there s predictions of a slowed economy. this is all he has. so he s going to take this. even if nothing happens, even if it goes to court or whatever, he doesn t get any money for the wall, he will say i fought for it and i have built it already, because that s what donald trump says and he gets away with it unfortunately. so to that point, how do democrats navigate a war for 2020 that is being waged through at least in part this president s false rhetoric? here is my take, alex. in addition to the fact he s usurping powers delegated to the constitution to congress tore appropriating funds, the really sad point of this despite the fact that he is completely showing disregard for our
that were passed for other purposes. military construction and so forth. citing the law where they believe they have got a firm ground to stand on. ultimately, it will likely be tested in the courts. the president has said that, as well. but there is the political debate about whether this was the right use of this authority, especially when it is so ingrained in the american system that congress decides where and how money is spent that belongs to the taxpayers. alex? okay, kelly o., we ll see you again. thanks, kel. joining me now, francesca chambers, white house correspondent for the daily mail. charlie savage, washington correspondent for the new york times and msnbc contributor. and danielle dale, washington bureau chief for the toronto star. ladies, first. francessca, what do you make of stephen miller s explanation when trump himself said, i didn t need this. is this the narrative the white house is going to be going with? yeah, it s clearly problematic to say that it
from the military. and so i m not certain how the secretary would propose we not do that, given that the president would like to see $8 billion for his wall and $3 billion or more will be coming from the military itself. $3.6 billion, to be specific. how do you see all of this playing out? is it going to be a long, drawn-out fight between the president and congress and any number of courts? so listen. i m a veteran, and i actually genuinely believe in protecting our borders, all of them. i also am the daughter of a refugee, and i believe that it s essential that our immigration policy and our border is treated with humanitarian aspect and respect. but i do worry that we are going to be endlessly and hopelessly tied into a knot with this recent declaration of an emergency that doesn t exist. and what s going to happen is the congress will certainly fight it, the courts will certainly fight it. people who are not just in the congress, but who are affected citizens and states will fig
for example, trying to compare that urgency to the urgency as he sees it echoing the president s talking points about the invasion of crime, drug trafficking through the southern border. they also talked about this joint resolution going through congress now. of course, we ve seen a number of congress people say they are going to be putting it on the floor. they are out next week because of the presidents day recess. when they get back the week after it was essentially disapprove of and require the president to step back from this national emergency. it s expected to pass the house. whether it passes the senate is an open question. if it does, would the president actually veto it. that was the question. here is stephen miller s answer. if they pass a resolution of disapproval, will the president veto that, which will be the first veto of his presidency. obviously the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration, chris. i know we re out of time but i want to aga
little power, there will be little check and no balance. adam schiff warning about the consequences of one of the most serious executive branch challenges to congressional authority in decades. joining me now, democrat from california, a member of the oversight committee. congressman, welcome. good to see you. let s get right into your assessment on how much the emergency declaration may weaken our government separation of powers. it s a direct assault on the constitution and the separation of powers. we clearly want to hold president trump accountable for taking this action. this is not a national emergency. it never was a national emergency. you don t shut down the government if you believe there s a national emergency. every single representative in congress on the border does not want a wall built. we have to push back on trump. we have to push back his efforts to take money from the military and other places, including in california in my district in orange county to make sure