There are few who can deny that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is a tyrant and that socialist tyranny has destroyed that South American country. Similarly, there are few who can deny that illicit drug traffickers contribute to real harm in their home countries and here in the United States.
Ultimately, however, what happens in Venezuela is up to the people of Venezuela. And while the prohibitionist approach to drugs has yet to find much success, we have legal procedures to deal with drug traffickers.
Yet President Donald Trump, who ran on opposing regime change and putting America first, has seemingly come to believe that it’s up to him to promote regime change in Venezuela. He has seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. He has ordered “a total and complete” on oil tankers leaving Venezuela. He has ordered CIA operations in Venezuela. And he has taken up the tactic of murdering people on boats his administration claims are drug traffickers, now claiming drugs are “weapons of mass destruction.”
It’s all quite bizarre stuff that could be checked by a responsible Congress. Alas, we do not have such a thing. We have a legislative branch subservient to the president, with most Republicans having long ago abandoned their integrity.
This was underscored Wednesday with two votes to rein in the president and reassert Congress’ constitutional authority on warmaking.
One, a resolution calling on the president to cease hostilities with groups he designated terrorists (in this case, the cartels) in the Western Hemisphere “unless authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force against such presidentially designated terrorist organization.” This was rejected by a vote of 216 against to 210 in favor.
Reps. Ken Calvert, Young Kim, Jay Obernotle and Darrell Issa voted against reining in the president from murdering people. This is not surprising for many reasons, but the editorial board of the Southern California News Group asked Obernolte, Kim and Calvert what they thought about whether the boat bombings were justified and whether the president had the authority to conduct the strikes in October.
Obernolte declined to answer. Kim argued, “The president has authority to take limited actions to protect the national security of the United States.” And Calvert said flatly, “I support the administrations’ ongoing efforts to eliminate and reduce the cartels’ capability to force this deadly poison into our communities.”
By contrast, Rep. Norma Torres explained it well: “The president has no authority to launch military strikes without congressional approval in the Caribbean or Pacific under the clearly sham disguise of fighting drug trafficking. What we’re seeing is lawlessness. For decades, the U.S. has worked with regional partners to combat drug smuggling through cooperation, intelligence sharing, and development not military action. True leadership means working with our allies to dismantle criminal networks through lawful means, not taking reckless, ineffective actions that endanger lives and do little to stop drug shipments to the United States.”
Torres, as one can figure, voted in favor of the resolution.
Then the second resolution, “To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress.” Seems reasonable enough, right? American armed forces shouldn’t be doing anything in Venezuela without congressional authorization, right?
“When war-making power devolves to one person, liberty dissolves. Congress needs to vote before the President attempts regime change,” argued Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the last great Republicans in Congress.
Alas, that resolution too failed, albeit with a narrower margin: 213 members of Congress voted against requiring congressional authorization, with 211 voting with the Constitution. The only Republicans to cast the sensible vote were Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Don Bacon. Naturally, Calvert, Kim, Issa and Obernolte voted against the resolution.
The American experiment depends on our commitment to constraints on government power, on separation of powers and fidelity to the constitution. Congress, rendered a cheerleading squad for the president, isn’t doing its job. By enabling the president to continue to execute people without due process and threaten conflict with other countries, they are putting Trump’s ego first, not America first.
Sorry, drug trafficking isn’t a capital offense. And sure, Maduro is bad, but are we really doing this whole “policeman of the world” thing again?
As long as Calvert, Kim, Issa, Obernolte and the rest of the GOP are going to act as a rubber stamp for the president, what’s the point of electing them?
Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com