The Real ‘National Emergency’ Is Donald Trump, Says Watergate Journalist

Carl Bernstein knows what it is like when an administration begins to crumble. The former Washinton Post reporter, who along with his colleague Bob Woodward was instrumental in bringing down the Richard Nixon administration, says it is time Americans begin to seriously discuss “the question of whether or not Trump is fit to be president,” according to CNN.

On Friday morning, the United States completed three weeks of a partial government shutdown which has seen nearly 800,000 federal workers go without a paycheck. The shutdown has impacted law enforcement, airport security, coast guard, air traffic controllers, and several other government departments, with thousands of workers suffering to pay their bills and provide for their families. Donald Trump has previously indicated that he could continue the shutdown for “years” if the Democrats don’t accede to his demand of approving $5.6 billion for a border wall with Mexico. On Tuesday night, Trump delivered a first prime-time address from the Oval Office, telling Americans that a national “crisis” was afoot unless Democrats paid for a wall on the southern border. He has also threatened to declare a “national emergency” in order to get his way, although it is a move which would be open to extensive challenges in courts.

Carl Bernstein, who has closely observed the Trump administration unfold over the last couple of years, told CNN’s Brook Baldwin that the real emergency is not what is happening at the southern border, but Donald Trump himself.

“I wouldn’t predict anything Donald Trump does or doesn’t do,” Bernstein told Baldwin when asked if he thought Trump could actually declare a “national emergency” to get his wall.

“But I think we need to identify the real national emergency in this country and that is the question of whether or not Donald Trump is fit to be the President of the United States.

“And increasingly we are hearing from Republicans, Democrats, journalists, citizens — on the basis of real, hard information — why it may be a consensus is developing that Donald Trump is unfit to be President of the United States because of his actions of obstruction of justice; because of what we just saw in Syria; because of his ignorance on foreign policy; because of him putting his interests and the interests of his family before national interests; but above all, because of his consistent dishonesty.

“We have never been confronted with something like this — Nixon was a criminal president — but we have never been confronted by this kind of consistent dishonesty.”

Isn’t it obvious? https://t.co/E3kSdkpfSs

— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) January 9, 2019