Trending: ‘national emergency’

Lookups spiked 35,000% on January 4, 2019

Why are people looking up national emergency?

National emergency scuttled to the top of our lookups on January 4th, 2019, following news reports that President Trump was considering declaring one, in order to get funding for a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico.

BREAKING: Trump says he has considered enacting a national emergency to get funding for his border wall https://t.co/5LJs9q3Nnk pic.twitter.com/WQZUFHC4LJ
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) January 4, 2019

What does national emergency mean?

We define national emergency as "a state of emergency resulting from a danger or threat of danger to a nation from foreign or domestic sources and usually declared to be in existence by governmental authority." This definition is somewhat broader than the sense seemingly intended by Trump, as what constitutes a national emergency may vary from country to country.

Citations

But as the country, who have received the most liberal aids from this Company, cannot entertain the smallest doubt of its foundation, it is hoped, that, on occasion of a national emergency of this kind, the holders of their Notes will not be under any alarm.
— The Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Sc.), 29 Jun. 1772

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.