President Trump can declare a national emergency — with his power under the laws made by Congress

... The National Emergencies Act of 1976 allows the president to trigger emergency powers conferred on him not by me, but by Congress. It has been in place in various forms for more than 150 years. It confers powers on a president that I think go too far, such as confiscating private businesses, etc.

In this case, involving building a border barrier of some kind, that is a uniquely federal governmental responsibility. The president can use the law to undertake such a project, and it can be challenged in the courts or overturned by a joint resolution of Congress. He needs to make his case under the statute, which is an easy case — that securing the southern border is a national emergency, given the chaos there, the related consequences, and the refusal by the Democrats to address it in any meaningful way and their holding the rest of the government hostage.

The president can use the legitimate legal tools available to him to try to solve these problems. Unlike Obama, he is not legislating by creating, say, DACA, which is unconstitutional and violates separation of powers. Congress set up this process. This isn’t a misuse of unconstitutional authority. It’s about statutory interpretation.

I would encourage the NeverTrumpers to try to put their country ahead of their egos and try to control their emotional outbursts.