A Wall and Enough Rope to Hang Himself

Why the “National Emergency” Threat May Be Trump’s True Undoing

5 min readJan 28, 2019

Though most eyes remain primarily focused on the Mueller investigation, the more immediate and more decisive blow to Trump’s presidency may be his recent promise to declare a state of national emergency in order to have a border wall built.

The Mueller investigation does appear to be making significant progress, claiming name after name as it spirals ever closer to Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russians. While methodical and presumably meticulous, the FBI investigation is around two and a half years old now, and Mueller’s been running it for more than a year and a half.

THE INVESTIGATION ROLLS ON

It’s undeniably best that the investigation be thorough — that all “i”s are dotted and “t”s are crossed — so that there are no loopholes or technicalities to detract from the final determination. However, the presidential term is ticking by, and there seems to be no indication that the investigation will wrap up any time in the immediate future.

What’s more, there’s yet to be publicly divulged any damning information that explicitly exhibits undeniable collusion directly between Trump and Russia. It’s entirely possible that the FBI already possesses ironclad evidence and that they’re just playing their cards close to the vest until they are one hundred percent sure they have all of their ducks in a row. In the minds of Trump supporters, though, the time spent thus far only supports their theory of a baseless witch-hunt.

It’s not difficult to imagine that when the investigation finally does come to an end, Trump supporters will be plenty prepared to dismiss the findings as biased and corrupt. Even if the report results in criminal charges, Trump is unlikely to lose support from his remaining base. Instead, in their eyes, he’ll probably be figuratively martyred.