Donald Trump has followed through on his threat to declare a national emergency to get funding to build a wall between the United States in Mexico. There is no emergency, but that doesn't matter to Trump. He's just trying to extricate himself from the bind he put himself in.
He promised his voters throughout the 2016 campaign that he would build a wall on our Southern border, and says he will keep his promise. Of course, he already broken that promise, since he said the wall would be paid for by Mexico. But he's ignoring that.
He shut down the government, and took credit for doing it -- causing the longest government shutdown in this nation's history. But that failed. He took a hit in the polls for doing it, and finally capitulated -- agreeing to a short extension with no border wall funding.
He painted himself further into a corner by again threatening to shut down the government or declare a national emergency if the short extension didn't result in the amount of wall funding he wanted ($5.7 billion). He didn't get the money, and came out looking weak and unable to keep his promise.
He signed the budget that gave him less than $1.4 billion for the wall, and then declared a national emergency. He wants to use that to transfer funds from military projects and disaster relief to building a wall. But numerous agencies are already lining up to sue to stop the national emergency, and Congress may also act to end it.
I don't think Trump expects his national emergency gambit to succeed. His own Justice Department warned him that it would likely be tied up in court and probably wouldn't succeed. That doesn't matter. It's just to make his supporters believe that he's trying to do what they want. He now looks weak and ineffective, and he's hoping the declaration will make him look strong.
The emergency declaration will probably work among his most rabid supporters, But he's not winning over most Americans. Note in the chart above that six different polls all show the public opposes the emergency declaration by large margins. The are:
CNN / SSRS Poll -- by a 35 point margin.
CBS News Poll -- by a 32 point margin.
Monmouth University Poll -- by a 30 point margin.
Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- by a 16 point margin.
Quinnipiac University Poll -- by a 35 point margin.
Economist / YouGov Poll -- by a 25 point margin.
