many prominent republican and conservative commentators expressed concerns that the declaration violated the separation of powers and the powers of congress. noted neoconservative and long time trump-critic max boot argued in the "washington post" that the action was trump's "latest assault on the norms of american democracy" and that "arguably nothing trump has done to date has been as alarming as his misuse of the 1976 national emergencies act." and would set a precedent to allow a future democratic president to declare an emergency taking unilateral action on gun control and climate change.