How can this be happening without congressional authorization? The only country needing regime change is the United States! Who will rid us of this madman president? Looks like we've joined the likes of Russia and now have no moral leg to stand on when China inevitably attacks Taiwan.
Well, Trump’s got plenty of company when it comes to launching strikes without prior congressional authorization. Clinton (Kosovo), Obama (Libya, Syria), and Biden (Syria, Iraq) all relied on versions of the same theory: that Article II of the Constitution gives the president authority, as commander in chief, to use limited military force to protect U.S. interests or respond to perceived threats without Congress, so long as the action is narrow in scope and duration and doesn’t amount to a full-scale war. Whether that theory is valid can (and should) be debated, but it’s become the default presidential playbook, across parties, for better or worse. So it goes. (And please don't read this as an endorsement, it's not. This is nuts.)
Yet one more argument for why we need a new Constitution to replace the outdated 1787 version written by property owning white men to protect their own interests who, while revolutionary thinkers of their time, could not forsee the demands of the 20th and 21st centuries. We've twisted the tired old document farther than it was ever intended. It's just not up to the job anymore. Thanks for the reminder that Trump is not the only President to exceed his authority.
I'll ignore your racist overtone to invite you first, to consider we are operating under the oldest constitution of all the most prosperous countries and second, to ask yourself why the Scandinavian countries are repeatedly named the happiest places on Earth, each a variant of a social-democratic form of government.
I didn't know this, so I'm grateful to you, Michael, for telling me. Let me take a second to process it.
The USA's foreign policy is structured around exceptionalism. That means that the rest of the world has to keep to the rules, but the US can do as it pleases.
But it can only do as it pleases if it does as Congress pleases. But, if Congress's endorsement of the US doing as it pleases runs counter to the President's desire to do as he pleases, what's the difference? Who needs Congress to authorise the US to do as it pleases, when the President is perfectly capable of doing whatever he wants anyway?
It's like saying the school bully cannot beat up junior boys unless a crooked prefect says he can, regardless of what the faculty says.
As sent to my GOP TFG protege House Representative:
"Now that 'president' Trump has launched a clearly unconstitutional war so as to enrich himself and his friends with Venezuela's oil, are you AT LAST going to wake up and honor your oath, and remove this tyrant from our highest office? Or are you going to remain the cowatd and toady you have been thus far? We your constituents deserve to know!!!"
The capture of Nicolás Maduro is not the end of Venezuela’s crisis. It is the beginning of a far more volatile phase. What comes next is not a clean transition but a fast, messy scramble across Caracas, Washington, and global capitals, all trying to shape the precedent Trump has just set. Here are the five dynamics that will matter most in the days and weeks ahead.
According to Bloomberg, Trump has claimed the US military has seized Maduro & flown him out of the country to the US. Press conference at 11am, probably so he can parade him around as a trophy. I wonder if he'll try to have a public execution?
Perhaps you can provide some insight here. Trump has announced we are seizing Venezuelan oil fields and refineries. That seems like a blatant act of war. Not at all like Panama or other recent precedent actions. By the same logic he can invade Saudi Arabia as they nationalized Aramco awhile back.
As sent to my GOP TFG protege House Representative:
"Now that 'president' Trump has launched a clearly unconstitutional war so as to enrich himself and his friends with Venezuela's oil, are you AT LAST going to wake up and honor your oath, and remove this tyrant from our highest office? Or are you going to remain the cowatd and toady you have been thus far? We your constituents deserve to know!!!"
How can this be happening without congressional authorization? The only country needing regime change is the United States! Who will rid us of this madman president? Looks like we've joined the likes of Russia and now have no moral leg to stand on when China inevitably attacks Taiwan.
Well, Trump’s got plenty of company when it comes to launching strikes without prior congressional authorization. Clinton (Kosovo), Obama (Libya, Syria), and Biden (Syria, Iraq) all relied on versions of the same theory: that Article II of the Constitution gives the president authority, as commander in chief, to use limited military force to protect U.S. interests or respond to perceived threats without Congress, so long as the action is narrow in scope and duration and doesn’t amount to a full-scale war. Whether that theory is valid can (and should) be debated, but it’s become the default presidential playbook, across parties, for better or worse. So it goes. (And please don't read this as an endorsement, it's not. This is nuts.)
Yet one more argument for why we need a new Constitution to replace the outdated 1787 version written by property owning white men to protect their own interests who, while revolutionary thinkers of their time, could not forsee the demands of the 20th and 21st centuries. We've twisted the tired old document farther than it was ever intended. It's just not up to the job anymore. Thanks for the reminder that Trump is not the only President to exceed his authority.
Property owning whites to the rescue. I'll take my whites all day over the progressive vomit spewed today. 🇺🇲
I'll ignore your racist overtone to invite you first, to consider we are operating under the oldest constitution of all the most prosperous countries and second, to ask yourself why the Scandinavian countries are repeatedly named the happiest places on Earth, each a variant of a social-democratic form of government.
Thanks for the Constitutional reference (Article II) with examples. Definitely should be reconsidered! Really appreciate your quick deep insights!
I didn't know this, so I'm grateful to you, Michael, for telling me. Let me take a second to process it.
The USA's foreign policy is structured around exceptionalism. That means that the rest of the world has to keep to the rules, but the US can do as it pleases.
But it can only do as it pleases if it does as Congress pleases. But, if Congress's endorsement of the US doing as it pleases runs counter to the President's desire to do as he pleases, what's the difference? Who needs Congress to authorise the US to do as it pleases, when the President is perfectly capable of doing whatever he wants anyway?
It's like saying the school bully cannot beat up junior boys unless a crooked prefect says he can, regardless of what the faculty says.
As sent to my GOP TFG protege House Representative:
"Now that 'president' Trump has launched a clearly unconstitutional war so as to enrich himself and his friends with Venezuela's oil, are you AT LAST going to wake up and honor your oath, and remove this tyrant from our highest office? Or are you going to remain the cowatd and toady you have been thus far? We your constituents deserve to know!!!"
The capture of Nicolás Maduro is not the end of Venezuela’s crisis. It is the beginning of a far more volatile phase. What comes next is not a clean transition but a fast, messy scramble across Caracas, Washington, and global capitals, all trying to shape the precedent Trump has just set. Here are the five dynamics that will matter most in the days and weeks ahead.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thiagodearagao/p/after-maduro-five-things-that-happen?r=2di31u&utm_medium=ios
So Trump has started a war. Where is international condemnation. Did congress give approval……
According to Bloomberg, Trump has claimed the US military has seized Maduro & flown him out of the country to the US. Press conference at 11am, probably so he can parade him around as a trophy. I wonder if he'll try to have a public execution?
Perhaps you can provide some insight here. Trump has announced we are seizing Venezuelan oil fields and refineries. That seems like a blatant act of war. Not at all like Panama or other recent precedent actions. By the same logic he can invade Saudi Arabia as they nationalized Aramco awhile back.
God help us. This is insane.
As sent to my GOP TFG protege House Representative:
"Now that 'president' Trump has launched a clearly unconstitutional war so as to enrich himself and his friends with Venezuela's oil, are you AT LAST going to wake up and honor your oath, and remove this tyrant from our highest office? Or are you going to remain the cowatd and toady you have been thus far? We your constituents deserve to know!!!"
3 January 2026. A date which will live in infamy.
What would the WOPR say? The only way to win is not to play the game..