President Donald Trump isn’t waiting for Congress to enact his agenda nationwide. In his first seven months in office, Trump declared a national emergency at least 12 times, a feat that has surpassed any other modern president in recent times.

In contrast, Trump declared a national emergency 13 times in the four years of his first administration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Former President George W. Bush issued just 14 orders throughout two administrations, while former President Barack Obama issued 12 orders during his two terms in office, and former President Joe Biden issued 11 orders in his four years in office.

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The National Emergencies Act of 1976 has allowed Trump and other former presidents to declare an emergency without congressional approval and impose their agenda. But what constitutes an actual emergency isn’t clearly defined. When invoked, the National Emergencies Act gives a president access to 150 statutory powers.

During his second term, Trump has expanded the boundaries of national emergencies in an effort to reshape Washington.

Trump’s latest emergency declaration came on Monday when he announced he would federalize the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and mobilize the National Guard in the Nation’s capital.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse,” said Trump during a press conference. “This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. You know what that is, and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.”

The emergency declarations allow Trump to bypass the congressional process of passing legislation into law, but some have questioned whether he is engaging in constitutional overreach.

“I think he’s learned from all the lawfare that he’s had to deal with coming back into the White House and obviously, in his entire life, that he realizes he just doesn’t have the time to play nice anymore. He’s just going to take it,” said Angie Wong, a Miami GOP committeewoman.

“He’s learned how to play the game, which is take it first. Let them take it back from you,” Wong continued.

If successful, Wong claimed Trump could likely enact the same tactics in New York City, his hometown, where the self-declared socialist Zohran Mamdani could become the next mayor. “I really think that he has his eyes on New York City and is somehow trying to figure out how to federalize it,” she said.

The president has declared national emergencies on a wide range of topics, including imposing tariffs on most United States trade partners, declaring an immigration crisis at the southern border, declaring an energy emergency, and imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court for issuing a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But some of these emergencies are being challenged in court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is due to issue a ruling after the court of International Trade struck down Trump’s tariffs, which he justified through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in May. If the case reaches the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, the Trump administration could prevail, allowing it further power to impose its will on the Nation.

Yet many Republicans support Trump’s use of emergency declarations, especially regarding the takeover of D.C. police.

“I think emergency powers exist precisely for moments that conventional governance has failed to meet what we’ll call extraordinary challenges,” said Hunter S. Gaylor, an adviser to New Journey PAC. “It takes too long in Congress to pass something when people are dying on the streets every day. So if Washington D.C., which is basically the symbolic and operational nerve center of our Republic, can’t guarantee basic safety, then Trump has every right to use federal intervention.”

Other Republicans claimed Congress had only itself to blame for allowing any president the power to ignore their influence by approving laws such as the National Emergencies Act of 1976 and the Patriot Act.

“The reason why there’s not much they can do is because it was Congress who ceded that authority. Now it’s up to Congress to remove that authority,” said Tom Norton, a former GOP candidate for Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District. “The Constitution was designed for checks and balances. Congress keeps surrendering their authority. If you’re going to keep surrendering your authority to the president, to the executive branch, eventually they’re going to use it.”

Trump is also facing the midterm deadline pressure next year, which could see Democrats flip the House and effectively curtail the GOP trifecta of the White House and Congress.

“He knows this is his one last shot to do what he feels needs to be done to fix America,” said Aaron Evans, president of Winning Republican Strategies. “He learned a lot in his first four years, as far as how bureaucracy can slow things down.”

“When Congress is not acting quick enough, or can’t act quick enough, or is gridlocked, executive powers exist for a reason,” Evans continued. “When executive powers go too far, the court systems exist for a reason.”