When Donald Trump seemingly threatened to wipe Iran from existence last week, it was an all-hands-on-deck moment. Some Democrats in Congress called once more for passing a war powers resolution (WPR) through Congress, ideally through a veto-proof, bipartisan majority, to force an end to Trump’s war whether he likes it or not. Others, like Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), insisted a WPR “will not be enough” and that the president needed to be removed from power entirely through the Twenty-Fifth Amendment or impeachment. Still others are saying that’s not enough and that the only true solution is ensuring that a Republican Party propping Trump up in lockstep loyalty is “annihilated in the next election, and the election after that.”
In reality, none of these options is enough of a response. The chaos and rapidly growing danger of Trump’s presidency demand more fundamental changes to US foreign policy and the powers of the executive branch that go far beyond just restraining the figure of Trump or beating Republicans in elections.
We are living through the future that a chorus of civil-libertarian Cassandras warned about for years, this magazine included: that left in place, the radical expansion of presidential war powers and national security authority justified by the “war on terror” would one day fall in the hands of someone irresponsible and dangerous who would put this inordinate power toward terrible ends. The only surprising thing about Trump’s use and abuse of this executive authority is how quickly we’ve reached this nightmare scenario.
You don’t get Trump’s banishment of hundreds of men to a Salvadoran torture dungeon without George W. Bush’s use of “extraordinary rendition.” You don’t get his immigration crackdown without Bush’s rounding up of hundreds of random brown migrants to fight “terror.” And you don’t get his current efforts to crush domestic dissent without Bush’s abuse of the word “terrorism” and…
Auteur: Branko Marcetic
