More is at stake in the fight over the border wall than the costs and tragedies the shutdown has and will inflict. It’s Trump’s treacherous inclination to declare a (fake) national emergency to get what he wants.

“I can do it if I want,” Trump declared in the Rose Garden Friday.

His belief that he can declare a national emergency to circumvent intractable opposition is dangerous. That’s because hundreds of unique powers would become available to him.

Theoretically, Trump would have the power to:

• Control public communications including the Internet.
• Detain “suspicious” people and deny them their civil rights.
• Freeze bank accounts and much, much more.

Trump has chafed at the limits of presidential authority, and emergency powers would extend his reach. Such powers have been misused in the Philippines and Turkey to establish dictatorships. In the US they could quickly and legally unravel our democracy.

Some checks exist to prevent abuse but, at the moment, they all depend on Republicans in Congress and the Supreme Court rising above conservative politics.

We need to immediately restore a functioning government – without paying Trump’s ransom demand. And our MoCs must ferociously fight moves toward a fake national emergency.

Crush this threat now.