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Trump Wobbles on the Emergency Threat and Proves the Shutdown Has Him Cornered
The president spent January 11 threatening to use a national emergency to force border-wall money, then downshifting in public and saying he was not looking to do it “right now.” The wobble mattered because it exposed both how far he was prepared to stretch executive power and how little confidence he had in actually executing the threat. Meanwhile, Republicans were already warning against the move, and the shutdown kept grinding on with no off-ramp in sight.