Trump is his own worst enemy

Consider Donald Trump's current predicament.

He lost out badly in what was supposed to be a negotiating with House Democrats over money for his wall vs another government shutdown, for which he would have again been held responsible.  He wound up signing an appropriations bill --  without the money for a wall that he could have gotten months ago, if he had accepted a compromise deal back then.

In the end, his final ask was for $5.6 billion;  the final bill, which he has signed, gives him $1.375 billion -- less than 1/4 -- and it specifies none is to be used to build a concrete wall.   It's for border security and specifies various , non-wall expenditures.

It's a major defeat for Trump.   He tried to save face by then saying that he would declare a national emergency, which would allow him to use other money already appropriated for other things.

But now he's undercut himself even on that.   Nevermind that there is no demonstrable emergency, given that the number of illegal border crossings is at a four decade low.   How can you call that an emergency?  --  even stipulating that the courts tend to defer to presidents when it comes to claims of emergency.

So what does Trump do with that?    He states on Friday that he "didn't need to declare a national emergency" for the wall but merely wanted to speed up the process to please his base.    The ACLU, the California AG, and Congressional Democrats are all going to fight this in court;   and everyone is predicting that the opening line of argument will be:   "I didn't need to declare a national emergency. . . "

He sure knows how to build a case that will stand up in court, doesn't he?   We don't need to worry any longer about this.    Trump never expected to win this case;  he's just playing politics with his loyal, but dwindling, base.

Ralph