President Donald Trump is warming to the idea of declaring a national emergency over his wall funding to win back his disillusioned supporters, despite early signs of disapproval by some Republican senators.
According to a Sunday Washington Post report, Trump has been vocal about the option over the weekend. Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney seems on board, saying on “Fox News Sunday” that Trump would protect the borders “with or without Congress.”
White House legislative director Marc Short chimed in, telling the Washington Post that many Republican applaud the idea behind the scenes.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) was openly supportive of the idea. “Come February the 15th, if the Democrats still say: ‘Go to hell on the wall, you get a dollar, that’s it,’ they basically tell Trump, ‘I’m not going to do with you what I did with Bush and Obama,’ then I hope he will go the emergency route,” Graham said on Fox News last week.
Some Republicans are less enthusiastic, though.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that a national emergency is “the wrong way to achieve” border security.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) agreed, saying on “Fox News Sunday” that he hopes “the President doesn’t have to go there.”
“There might be a future President that I don’t agree with that thinks something else is an emergency,” Blunt added, uneasy with the precedent.
