President Donald Trump is increasingly alienated from Republican lawmakers as they finally begin to stand up his imperial presidency, the panel on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" explained on Thursday.
"This afternoon, Donald Trump is in many ways more alone than he has been at any point in his presidency," anchor Nicolle Wallace explained.
"Barely two hours ago, the Senate voted to officially rebuke a cornerstone of his platform -- his national emergency declaration aimed at building a border wall using money Congress had previously denied him," she continued.
The final vote was 59 to 41, though Trump has promised to veto the resolution.
"I think this is a stunning rebuke to the president that reflects this turmoil that's building, or so it seems, within the Republican Party right now under President Trump," Axios reporter Alexi McCammond noted.
"This whole national emergency thing is reflective of the same pattern of behavior that we've seen from him since day one, where he loves using this sort of unilateral executive authority afforded to him by being the president of the United States," McCammond explained. "Whether that's legislating via executive orders ... or governing via tweet or the pardon power and the way he dangles that with people and now this national emergency, it is not surprising to me that he's not backing down."
"It is a little surprising how many Republican senators are breaking from him," she concluded.
"It also shows the limits of his political powers," Wallace observed. "They're down with his Trumpism and they're down with his ridiculous wall, but they draw a line somewhere on the other side of the wall beyond blowing up the Constitution as it was to leave Congress the powers of appropriation."
The author of the 2005 book TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald offered his insight on the revolt.
"I think everyone had been waiting and wondering when the GOP was going to demonstrate political courage," Tim O'Brien reminded. "I think it is good that the Republicans finally stood up and said no."
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