People Call Out Trump’s Hypocrisy On National Emergency With His Own Anti-Obama Tweet
The Twitter blowback over President Donald Trump’s plan to declare a national emergency to build his border wall has zeroed in on Trump’s own past tweet bashing then-President Barack Obama for “subverting” the Constitution with an executive action because he was “unable to negotiate with Congress.”
Trump wrote that post in 2014 after Obama announced executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the border while offering temporary legal status to more undocumented migrants already in the U.S.
Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2014
It was almost too perfect a tweet to unearth. Trump himself now plans to declare a national emergency because he failed to convince Congress to allocate $5.7 billion for his wall along the southern border. Most Americans are opposed to the wall.
.@PressSec: President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action—including a national emergency—to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 14, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned about Trump overstepping the limits on presidential power, declaring on Thursday that if he can confiscate property and build a wall without congressional authority, a Democratic president might someday declare a gun violence emergency and confiscate weapons.
Twitter users pointed out Trump’s hypocrisy — and repeatedly morphed his old tweet by changing the names of the party and president.
Dems must not allow Pres Trump to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress.
— William LeGate (@williamlegate) April 26, 2017
tRumps former tweets are like a crystal ball.
— jon petron (@jonlpetron) February 14, 2019
@realDonaldTrump He is too busy throwing a temper tantrum to negotiate with Congress.
— Lorre Streitz (@excagrl) November 20, 2014
But, you have put the Constitution through the shredder and it's ok? Just checking.
— Jane Curtin Resistance Movement (@JodiGabert49677) February 14, 2019
Nice foreshadowing on your Presidency.
— Heather (@realHeatherD) February 14, 2019
Trump looks inept because last year he rejected a bipartisan Senate agreement that would have provided more funds than the $1.38 billion in the bipartisan legislation. Not exactly the "Art of the Deal."
— nancy r. strong (@nancysuzyq) February 14, 2019
One Republican congressman from Utah seemed to take the idea of Trump’s tweet to heart, but this time in light of Trump’s actions.
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— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) February 14, 2019
Other tweets, including one from Pelosi, condemned Trump’s characterization of the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border as an emergency.
President Barack Obama declared a national emergency in 2009 during the swine flu outbreak. President George W. Bush declared a national emergency the day after the 9/11 attacks.
Those were national emergencies.— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) February 14, 2019
Trump will declare a national emergency for two reasons: he cannot ever bear to acknowledge defeat, and he is terrified of Ann Coulter. That's it. The only emergency is in his amygdala.
— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) February 14, 2019
Border crossings are the lowest they’ve been since 1971. School gun violence reached a new record in 2018.
On the one year mark of the mass shooting in Parkland, focus on the real national emergency: gun violence.
pic.twitter.com/ubnPD6289Q— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 14, 2019
It's not a national emergency when you have enough time to install a $50,000 state-of-the-art golf simulator in the White House.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 14, 2019
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.