It begins with an irony that only flourishes in the depths of political power: A president who claims America has recovered from chaos under his leadership governs as if the country were in a state of permanent emergency. In his second term, Donald Trump hasn\u2019t simply sharpened the tools of the executive branch \u2013 he has reforged them. Into a sledgehammer. And with it, he strikes not only his opponents \u2013 but the Constitution itself. It\u2019s now being called the \u201c911 presidency model\u201d: a rule by emergency, a form of governing based on emergency laws that were originally meant for war, terror, and national disasters \u2013 not for political impatience. In the first six months of his second term, Trump has issued 30 out of 150 presidential orders based on emergency powers \u2013 a rate that surpasses all of his predecessors. George W. Bush \u2013 the president of 9\/11 \u2013 resorted to such laws only 14 times in his first term. Trump has turned the exception into the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was once a rare and well-justified exception has become everyday practice under Trump. Emergency is no longer a condition \u2013 it is a style of governance. He justifies punitive tariffs with alleged economic emergencies, deploys troops to the border citing an \u201cinvasion situation,\u201d lifts environmental regulations invoking \u201cimminent danger.\u201d The Constitution? According to Trump, not blocked \u2013 but bypassed. \u201cIf Congress won\u2019t act, I must,\u201d is the core sentence of his second presidency. And the legal basis comes from a 1977 law: the \u201cInternational Emergency Economic Powers Act\u201d (IEEPA) \u2013 originally created to rein in presidential authority, now turned into a blank check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That law was only ever meant for \u201cunusual and extraordinary threats from abroad.\u201d But Trump\u2019s administration has already invoked it 21 times \u2013 to impose tariffs, override trade agreements, or block investments. Also revived is the Alien Enemies Act from the 18th century \u2013 a tool historically marked by arbitrariness \u2013 now used again to deport Venezuelan migrants without hearings. The justification: alleged links to the Tren de Aragua gang \u2013 a claim that U.S. intelligence agencies themselves have not confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump is not the first president to use emergency laws. Franklin D. Roosevelt interned Japanese Americans during World War II. George W. Bush authorized warrantless surveillance. Barack Obama declared public health crises national emergencies. And Joe Biden tried to cancel student debt under a post-9\/11 law \u2013 until the Supreme Court blocked him. But Trump goes further. More systematically. More confidently. More dangerously. He exploits the gaps where Congress remains silent. And when Congress speaks, he doesn\u2019t care. When it tried to nullify Trump\u2019s emergency declaration in 2019 to fund the border wall, he ignored the vote \u2013 with a veto. Back then, it was a constitutional overreach. Today, it\u2019s routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not using emergency powers to respond to unforeseen challenges,\u201d says John Yoo, former Justice Department official under George W. Bush. \u201cHe\u2019s using them to step into political vacuums because Congress won\u2019t act.\u201d And further: \u201cTrump has simply taken this principle to the next level.\u201d But not everyone is standing by. JD Vance, vice president under Trump, openly defends the strategy: \u201cWe are in an emergency \u2013 not everyone sees it yet.\u201d When foreign governments, Vance says, threaten to cut America off from essential supply chains \u2013 for example, pharmaceutical ingredients \u2013 that is, by definition, a national emergency. \u201cThis is not about plastic toys. This is about survival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congress? Paralyzed. Attempts to limit emergency powers legislatively have repeatedly failed. In 2023, Democrats and moderate Republicans tried to pass a law that would make every emergency declaration expire after 30 days unless Congress actively extends it. It failed \u2013 miserably. Since Trump\u2019s return, not even a new attempt has been made. Today, Congress must actively vote to end an emergency. Which never happens \u2013 out of fear, opportunism, or calculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth Goitein from the Brennan Center for Justice calls it a \u201cquiet constitutional breach.\u201d For decades, she says, the instrument of emergency powers was rarely abused. But now, everything is different. The temptation is too great \u2013 and the consequences too distant. The question is no longer whether Trump is overreaching his authority. It\u2019s whether the system is still capable of stopping him. The separation of powers has found an adversary who knows how to outsmart it \u2013 using laws that were originally meant to uphold it. Emergency becomes normalcy. Crisis becomes calculus. And the president becomes a power center no one can control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s no longer 9\/11. But America has a president who acts as if it were \u2013 every single day.<\/p>\n
Es beginnt mit einer Ironie, wie sie nur in den Tiefen der Machtpolitik gedeiht: Ein Pr\u00e4sident, der behauptet, Amerika habe sich unter seiner F\u00fchrung vom Chaos erholt, regiert doch, als sei das Land im permanenten Notstand. Donald Trump hat in seiner zweiten Amtszeit nicht einfach die Werkzeuge der Exekutive gesch\u00e4rft \u2013 er hat sie umgeschmiedet. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-topstory","category-trump-s-world"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/911-president.webp?fit=850%2C508&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Rainer Hofmann","author_link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/author\/admin\/"},"yoast_head":"\n