Trump Strikes Venezuela, Picks Up President Maduro and His Wife to Stand Trial in New York, Without So Much as Notifying Congress

There is no dispute that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is a bad guy, a brutal dictator who has kept himself in power by overturning election results. But the decision to use the U.S. military to remove such a leader unambiguously requires the approval of Congress, which has the sole power to declare war. Donald Trump did not do so.

The Washington Post reports:

Top lawmakers on congressional intelligence committees split along sharp partisan lines Saturday on the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Republicans and Democrats agreed that Maduro was not the country’s rightful leader, but broke over President Donald Trump’s unilateral action and the question of what’s next for Venezuela.

Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Congress should have authorized any use of military force.

“Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos,” Himes said in a statement. “The Administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.” …

In recent months, U.S. lawmakers have voted down multiple measures, backed by Democrats and a handful of Republicans, that sought to limit Trump’s ability to conduct military action in Venezuela and the Caribbean without the approval of Congress.

If the reason it is acceptable for the U.S. to remove a foreign leader is because he is an authoritarian who lacks democratic legitimacy, there is an obvious contradiction is prosecuting this attack through authoritarian means.

The closest historical parallel for this action is George H. W. Bush’s war to capture dictator Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989, without any formal authorization from Congress, violating the terms of the Constitution. Yet even Bush briefed member of Congress ahead of time, and they generally approved of the action. Trump dispensed with even this small courtesy, not even bothering to notify Congress before striking, further usurping an arguably superior branch’s constitutionally-granted powers.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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