American presidents have been declaring national emergencies for decades. For some, it’s been an easy way to circumvent a gridlocked legislature. For others, it was a legitimate response to an actual crisis. In the case of President Donald Trump using this tactic to finally begin building the wall, it’s sort of both.
As many pundits have been keen to point out, former President Barack Obama was never afraid to use the national emergency clause to advance his own agenda as well. But, there’s a key difference in priorities, as this tweet shows.
Obama was a rest of the world first type of president. It’s why he spent the first six months of his own time in office apologizing for the rest of the world that America is better than everyone else. President Trump is the precise opposite — the only national emergency declared under his watch was to benefit his own country. This is how all national emergencies should be, but that doesn’t make sense when you think of America as a terrible place.
The difference in how this power was used is very telling about these two presidents.
~ Facts Not Memes