President Trump decides to declare a national emergency over the border wall. Partisans on both sides have spewed their normal rhetoric defending the views of their tribes. In one of those tribal rhetorics, Speaker Pelosi said this would make it easier for the next president to declare a national emergency on guns. I’ve heard derision of the comment from the RKBA crowd, but I think she’s right.

There are issues on the border with smuggling and the cartels, but not the kind that pose a direct and immediate threat to the nation as a whole or a segment of the nation. That’s kind of like saying the bad parts of Chicago pose a direct and immediate threat to the nation or Illinois, and the president should declare a national emergency to build a wall around those neighborhoods. Please don’t bring up the terrorism bullshit. There has been no credible evidence of any terrorists coming up the southern border.

What Trump has done with this emergency declaration is add another stone to the path towards the conversion from a presidency to an emperor. Trump is not unusual in this. I’m not sure if he’s going to end up adding more stones to the path than Bush II or Obama. I don’t know if this action will end up being a large paving stone or a small cobblestone. Either way, it’s another stone.

I don’t think Trump will declare himself Donald Augustus I when his term comes to an end. I do think he’s added another accepted power to the one who will.