Oh, say it ain’t so. Could there be trouble in GOP paradise over Donald Trump’s Iran conflict?
Politics
They said it wouldn’t last and now, there appears to be a crack in the armor between ‘The Donald’ and his congressional Republican flunkies who have — at least until now — followed him around like a lost puppy looking for its mother. Yes, Republicans have repeatedly turned a blind eye and allowed Trump to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted without a stitch of checks and balances. And then on Wednesday, all that changed.
After bombing and assassinating beloved Iran general Qasem Soleimani last week during a late-night raid that was labeled “urgent” in order to prevent “imminent danger” to America, Donald Trump was forced to provide a classified intelligence briefing to Democratic and Republican members of Congress and explain his midnight military melee. Needless to say, it did not go well.
The Trump team met with members of Congress in secret and behind closed doors. Then, 75-minutes later, the unthinkable happened when 2 Republican senators burst through the doors with 1 announcing that the rushed intelligence session was the “worst briefing I’ve had on a military issue” during his 9 years in the Senate.
“In the briefing and in public, this administration has argued that the vote to topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 applies to military action in Iraq. That is absurd,” GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said in acknowledgment of trouble in GOP paradise. “Nobody in their right mind — with a straight face, with an ounce of honesty — can argue when Congress voted to go after Saddam Hussein in 2002 that (they) authorized military force against an Iranian general 18 years later.”
Sen. Paul wasn’t done.
“There was no specific information given to us of a specific attack. Generality — stuff that you read in the newspaper. I didn’t learn anything in the hearing that I hadn’t seen in a newspaper already.
“I see no way in the world you could logically argue that an authorization to have war with Saddam Hussein has anything to with having war with people currently in Iraq. Let’s have the debate, and let’s have some senators stand up,” Paul added.
“They had to leave after 75 minutes while they’re in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find this absolutely insane.” – Sen. Mike Lee
He was not alone in his takedown of Trump and his makeshift briefing, as GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah stepped in from there and called the Trump meeting “un-American” and “completely unacceptable.”
“At one point one of the briefers said something like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll consult you,'” Lee said of the briefing from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and CIA Director Gina Haspel. “Consultation isn’t a constitutional declaration of war. Drive-by notification or after the fact lame briefings like the one we just received are inadequate.
“They had to leave after 75 minutes while they’re in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. I find this absolutely insane.”
The angry senator then added:Â “After today, every time they pull a stunt like this, I’m willing to consider and introduce any and every war powers act resolution.”
As if like clockwork, Trump’s lead Lap Dog — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — came to ‘The Donald’s’ rescue.
“I think they’re overreacting, quite frankly,” Graham said regarding the decision by Sens. Paul and Lee to debate the Trump Iran escalation in public. “Go debate all you want to. I’m going to debate you, trust me. I’m going to let people know that in this moment in time, to play this game with the War Powers Act, which I think is unconstitutional, whether you mean to or not, you’re empowering the enemy.”
Ouch!
Yes, this trouble in GOP paradise is very real. Not only did 2 prominent and regular backers of Donald Trump completely eviscerate his pretend “urgent” military conflict in Iran, but they then engaged in a public spat with another Senate colleague who is known and regarded as Trump’s biggest ass-kisser on Capitol Hill.
So, grab a bag of popcorn and sit back and watch this Republican street-fight unfold. If Lee and Paul were emboldened enough to step forward and finally have the cajones to challenge Donald Trump, there must be other GOP soldiers waiting in the wings and recognizing there’s strength in numbers.
Who knows, maybe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to temporarily withhold Articles of Impeachment from going over to the US Senate was a shrewd move after all.
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Who knows, maybe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to temporarily withhold Articles of Impeachment from going over to the US Senate was a shrewd move after all. […] -DJ
It certainly appears to be a “shrewd move.”
Look. We know that Speaker Pelosi is a politically savvy leader. She’s experienced and knows the games Repubs play. She already knows what to expect (and not expect) from Mitch McConnell, in terms of her trying to get assurances from him that the process (the trial) will “honor as much as of their Constitutional responsibility as possible.” She also knows that timing is everything.
She won’t withhold the Articles of Impeachment a whole lot longer.