President Donald Trump keeps reaching for the same two words when his projects and decisions face legal scrutiny: national security.
In a new analysis on Friday, The New Republic staff writer Matt Ford argued that the defense has spread from Trump’s White House ballroom to a proposed monument — and now his ban on reporters.
“President Donald Trump appears to think that the phrase ‘national security’ is a get-out-of-court-free card whenever he wants to do (or get away with) something,” Ford wrote. “Thanks to the Supreme Court, one can hardly blame him for drawing this conclusion.”
Ford cited the justices’ decision last month allowing ballroom construction to continue after an administration official said the project was needed to protect a military facility beneath it.
“Trump and his aides appear to have taken that lesson—that invoking ‘national security’ is a good way to get what you want—to heart,” he told readers.
Trump has since said his proposed 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial would house drones and snipers for national security purposes, Ford added. Lawyers for the president also put together a national security defense this week in defending Trump’s White House ban on reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
Ford called the pattern a “neat trick” for winning over judges.
“It remains to be seen whether the president’s latest invocations will succeed if and when they reach the Supreme Court,” he concluded, before adding a warning to Trump and his Republican allies.
“If they do, future Democratic presidents should take a similarly broad interpretation of what counts as ‘national security’ to advance their own policy goals,” Ford wrote.