President Donald Trump has issued the first veto of his presidency on Friday, striking down a bipartisan resolution against his emergency declaration calling for a slat-fence to protect the country from the lowest influx ever of people who commit very few crimes and smuggle very few drugs.
“Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” Trump said from his plush quarters at the Oval Office, obviously not worried about the hordes of make-believe murderers that his minions of “Build that wall” chanters have fretted about since the president began his salacious fearmongering campaign.
Twelve Republican senators joined every Democratic senator and voted for the congressional resolution condemning his declaration of an emergency at the US-Mexico border, according to the Washington Post. While Congress does not have the votes to overturn the veto, the measure is one of the few times during his presidency that members of his own party have stood up to his overreaching of powers.
To be clear, the Republicans who voted against the emergency declaration did not rebuke the president for demanding a wall that not one iota of research says will stop undocumented immigration, drugs crossing the border or dark-skinned men with evil, shiny mustaches intent on defiling the chastity of innocent white women. Republicans voted for the resolution because they believe that only Congress has the authority to appropriate billions of dollars.
It’s not that Trump’s stupid idea was stupid. It was that Republicans believe that only they should have the power to do something this stupid.
To counter their point, the Department of Justice delivered a letter to Congress last week stating that the the president has the right to override Congress’ constitutional authority, as prescribed by the National Emergencies Act of 1976. Hours before his veto, Trump issued a tweet thanking his party members who supported his idiotic, non-fact-based wall idea.
Again, documented and undocumented immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans. Most drugs enter the country through legal ports of entry, and so do most international victims of human trafficking.
But then again, he also wants to build a Space Force.