# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2003
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40042 "2019-01-08T16:21:58Z")
OK, here’s a stupid idea, were it to happen. Trump declares a national emergency, a national crisis, whatever it’s called, at our southern border. What would he get from this? Funds that would otherwise not be available? Authority that would otherwise not be available? Anything? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40043 "2019-01-08T16:28:51Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, here’s a stupid idea, were it to happen. Trump declares a national emergency, a national crisis, whatever it’s called, at our southern border. What would he get from this? Funds that would otherwise not be available? Authority that would otherwise not be available? Anything? He gets to pretend he did everything he could to keep his ignorant, unnecessary, unworkable, incessant promises to build a wall and blame his utter failure to do so on someone/anyone else, as he’s _always_ done. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40044 "2019-01-08T16:28:55Z")
Yes, it would let him transfer funds from the military to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40045 "2019-01-08T16:46:00Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > You never pass up an opportunity to state even routine things in the most dickish way possible, do you? Eh, it’s cool. I fucked up the link by accidentally pasting in the quote instead of the URL and didn’t check. No offense was taken by the reminder, and I appreciate the inclusion of the actual link. Anyhoo. Trump. What a douche. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40046 "2019-01-08T16:58:50Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > What would he get from this? A few more news cycles about something other than Russia and collusion, of which there wasn’t none anyhow, period. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40047 "2019-01-08T17:13:11Z")
Forgive my ignorance, but has he given a reason why he did not ask for the funding for the wall when he had a Republican Congress? Or did he? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40048 "2019-01-08T17:17:42Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Yes, it would let him transfer funds from the military to do it. And he seems to think he could use “the military version” of eminent domain then. I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or not. I guess the military can commandeer some property in times of emergency, maybe? So, he seems to be envisioning the military heading to the border, taking privately owned land, and building a wall on it. I’m not worried about this, though. Republican lawmakers will surely rise up as one to block such an obvious executive overreach and unlawful seizure of private property. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40049 "2019-01-08T17:20:56Z")
I believe you left off the sarcasm tags. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40050 "2019-01-08T17:23:02Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Forgive my ignorance, but has he given a reason why he did not ask for the funding for the wall when he had a Republican Congress? Or did he? Where’s the fun in that? He knew they wouldn’t give it to him. Better to wait to make an unnecessary huge deal out of it when he can blame Democrats. (He did get 1.6 billion for upgrades and replacement parts of previously existing structures.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40051 "2019-01-08T17:27:25Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Forgive my ignorance, but has he given a reason why he did not ask for the funding for the wall when he had a Republican Congress? Or did he? He was still using the “Mexico is gonna pay for it” line back then. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40052 "2019-01-08T17:43:55Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Forgive my ignorance, but has he given a reason why he did not ask for the funding for the wall when he had a Republican Congress? Or did he? It wasn’t a national emergency for his first two years. It’s gotten really bad under his watch and it’s time he addressed his shortcomings. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40053 "2019-01-08T18:40:29Z")
[‘It’s Just Too Much’: A Florida Town Grapples With a Shutdown After a Hurricane](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida) When I ran across this article in the NY Times, I assumed it was another story about how the shutdown is affecting everyday Americans. Which it is, but this quote at the end of the story caught my eye: > [@](#): > > “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” **“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”** A really sad commentary on the mindset of the Trump supporter. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40054 "2019-01-08T18:44:23Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > let them eat face. Ha! That’s grrrrreat 🐆 ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40055 "2019-01-08T19:33:44Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Them people what ain’t real Americans. You mean, like a man whose mother was a foreigner, whose wife is a foreigner, and is clumsily trying to twist US foreign policy to help his private business build a small hotel in Istanbul? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40056 "2019-01-08T20:08:09Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, here’s a stupid idea, were it to happen. Trump declares a national emergency, a national crisis, whatever it’s called, at our southern border. What would he get from this? Funds that would otherwise not be available? Authority that would otherwise not be available? Anything? It nationalizes the military. And then who knows what other uses he’d make of them. Start rounding up dissidents? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40057 "2019-01-08T20:12:15Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It nationalizes the military. And then who knows what other uses he’d make of them. Start rounding up dissidents? I think I know what you are trying to say here, but the military is already nationalized, I would think. And I have enough respect for them (tired as I am of the constant “thank you for your service” any time someone mentions they are or were in the military) that I don’t think they’d obey “round up” orders from Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40058 "2019-01-08T20:49:44Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It nationalizes the military. And then who knows what other uses he’d make of them. Start rounding up dissidents? “Hey, as long as you’re all here, how about a parade?” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40059 "2019-01-08T22:40:31Z")
Chinese citizens didn’t believe the Red Army would massacre their own people in Tienanmen Square, either. If we’re hoping the military won’t do terrifying things for their Commander-in-Chief, remember that the “conservatives” have had three generations to try and repopulate the military with compliant fascists since Smedley Butler sold them out. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40060 "2019-01-08T23:09:21Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > OK, here’s a stupid idea, were it to happen. Trump declares a national emergency, a national crisis, whatever it’s called, **at our southern border.** What would he get from this? Funds that would otherwise not be available? Authority that would otherwise not be available? Anything? He’s not limited to action at the border. He’d have “Emergency Powers.” He could shut down the Internet (among other things). > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > It nationalizes the military. And then who knows what other uses he’d make of them. **Start rounding up dissidents**? That’s one of the things. (my bolding) Life-long Republican Bill Kristol posted today: > [@](#): > > Every serious Republican, in Congress and out, should say publicly today that there is no basis for the president declaring a national emergency, and that if he does so they will join bipartisan efforts to defend the constitutional order and overturn his usurpation of power. > (To be clear, I consider Kristol’s challenge to be a very UN-stupid Republican idea.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40061 "2019-01-08T23:20:16Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > He’s not limited to action at the border. He’d have “Emergency Powers.” He could shut down the Internet (among other things). > > … Well fuck me. Thanks again, Republicans, for thinking that Donald Motherfucking Trump was fit for the office. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2002) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=2004)