Arguing Trump believes Congress is irrelevant, the Senator said: “It’s time for Congress to get its ass off the couch and do what the Constitution mandates that we do."
The Venezuela strike is not a one-off aberration; it is a vivid expression of a larger project that fuses executive overreach, oligarchic ambition, and a willingness to discard both constitutional limits and international law. Senator Tim Kaine is right to insist that this is an “illegal war” and that Congress has surrendered its core duty to decide when the nation goes to war. But to understand how dangerous this moment is, we have to place it in the broader strategy that has been hiding in plain sight.
In recent years, elites aligned with Project 2025 and similar blueprints have mapped out an American future in which democratic checks are treated as obstacles to be neutralized, not guardrails to be respected. These documents imagine a presidency unbound by traditional constraints, a bureaucracy purged and made personally loyal, and courts reshaped to ratify an aggressive “unitary executive” theory. As Anne Applebaum argues in Autocracy, Inc., twenty‑first‑century strongmen and their oligarch’s function less as isolated dictators and more as a global corporation of autocracy, using financial loopholes, propaganda, and mutual protection to entrench their power and wealth while rewriting the rules of the international system in their favor. Layered on top of that is the U.S. 2025 National Security Strategy explicitly carves the globe into spheres of influence where favored leaders and oligarchs are free to extract wealth with minimal interference, so long as they align with Washington’s power project.
What is playing out in Venezuela looks disturbingly like that model in action: a resource-rich country treated as a spoil of war; a people reduced to pawns in a contest over oil, contracts, and geopolitical bragging rights; and neighboring states warned to fall in line or risk similar treatment. This is not the rule of law; it is a privatized imperialism in which public power is deployed for private gain.
Congress is supposed to be the first line of defense against such abuse. The war power, the purse, and the impeachment power exist precisely so that no president can unilaterally plunge the country into wars of choice or convert the state into an instrument of oligarchic plunder. The Supreme Court, too, has a constitutional duty: to reject theories that turn the president into an elected monarch, and to defend the fundamental principle that no one is above the law.
None of that will happen by itself. It is time to organize more deeply, protest more visibly, and take back Congress in this year’s elections so that constitutional checks, and not oligarchic greed, set the course of American power.
Again, as happens with most editorials from a certain local writer I could mention.....ahem...... while Senator Kaine's statement is true, what's NOT said in the spirit of "bipartisanship" (read appeasement) is that these arrogant, horrendous actions of illegality and empire building did not happen in a vacuum.
Although, like most actions by this cynical administration, they occurred with an eye toward when they would be under the least media scrutiny (weekend/holiday), were announced after the fact, even to Congress, rather than before - and happened when they could provide the most distraction from other actions by Trump - such as the recent, court ordered data dump of some of the files showing his lies regarding his ward, Epstein, who conveniently died under his care - the fact is this administration has been quite open about their intent to do exactly what they did.
They published a strategic paper months ago that clearly stated they were abandoning international principles of law and we would now become a robber nation, stealing from others in our hemisphere while ignoring such actions by other totalitarian states such as Russia and China.
And not only have local Republican Congressional members such as Wittman and Cline become complicit in their silence, along with their party leaders such as Johnson, Scott, Graham, Jordan, et.al.; we can no longer pretend and give a pass to the local members of that party which have chosen to ride along and pretend these atrocities have nothing to do with them.
No one is making them be a part of this. They too should bear the burden and shame for what they have hired to be done on their, and through our system of government - our behalf.
Unjustly, unwisely, cruelly, illegally.
Again, rights not given to all are rights not given to any. Merely privilege.
If we, as a nation, cannot see fit to obey the law for moral reasons, whatever that says about our honor; as the nation that has arguably benefitted the most from a world order based upon rule of law, we should do so as a matter of pragmatism and cold hard calculation.
While "kick their ass, and take their gas" might have made a funny bumper sticker back in the 70's, it is hardly a sound policy for the world's militarily mightiest country in the 21st century.
If the only way our capitalist system can survive is by stealing from others, then it is not really capitalism, merely theft dressed up for appearances sake. Fooling no one, shaming ourselves.
This will not end well. Not only for them, but for us.
Do not act surprised if the states of the Southern Hemisphere do not unite and rise against us.
Wouldn't we do the same, if the tables were turned?
Reminder: The first axiom of politics remains in full force.
"It is not the action taken by the person that causes the offense. It is the political affiliation of the person taking action that causes the offense."
Had a democrat President taken this action, there would be nothing but praise for it. Added bonus, it was Trump that took the action, so being triple offended is the correct response.
Sadly, - the weakness of your defense above, yet your compulsion to offer it anyway - ignoring the content and rather attacking the messenger - a vague idea that "they all do it" - does as much to show what I've said as much as anything I've said.
For that, I guess I thank you.
But just as the planets continued to move despite those who would have chosen to deny it in the time of Galileo, so too do I fear this disaster will get much worse before it gets better.
Trump, Rubio, Miller envision themselves as modern day McKinleys, looking to take over the Western Hemisphere as they cede the rest to Russia/China/whoever while making enemies of former allies, and uniting our enemies out of necessity - as we openly threaten to expand now into Cuba, Greenland, etc.
Because a more clear eyed world sees us more as the corrupt and ever weakening Spanish empire that McKinley was able to take advantage of a century ago.
The world has changed since then. I do not anticipate the lands of Simon Bolivar, which threw off colonialism 50 years after us, and slavery 40 years before us - to meekly submit to this clear and open theft pretending to be righteousness.
We're stealing Venezuela because our citizens illegally choose to take fentanyl manufactured in Mexico from chemicals generated in China?
Huh?
Venezuela would be more justified to steal the United States based upon any of their citizens getting addicted to the Oxycontin the US allowed the Sacklers to produce.
So while, in a pitying way, I admire the effort to defend the indefensible - no matter what zealotry compels it - it does nothing to make this any better than it is.
I've said it before, and it's demonstrated again - Russia could have landed two army groups in this country and not done the damage to our nation that Republicans have done through their worship of Trump over the last 10 years.
Your verbose and erratic defense of a socialist dictator and leader of a drug cartel is astounding. Next, you'll be declaring that the cartels have a right to ship fentanyl laced drugs into America and across the world, because they are just trying to make a living.
Before you go crying for the people of Venezuela over the actions of President Trump, perhaps you should ask the Venezuelans for their opinion. You know, the ones dancing in the streets for joy.
Interesting how you studiously see a defense of the United State's Constitution, rule of law, wealth, people and honor as a defense of Maduro.
How convenient.
And I'm certain the irony of pardoning a convicted drug dealer at the same time you're justifying invading and taking over another country to capture an alleged one is way over your head.
Since, as you mentioned, because what matters to you most is the politics, not the facts.
Personally, I'm a lot more indifferent to a socialist dictator in a country most Americans couldn't find without Google, as compared to a fascist one right here.
But hey, you do you, big guy.
As for the people of Venezuela, I wish them well - though time and again, the early euphoria from such abrupt changes result in harm as likely as good.
See Iran, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
And typically, those actions were carried out by a more seasoned, rational, professional cadre of diplomats as compared to the current post-purge group leading this. Where not even Trump and Rubio can get on the same page of what the plan is.
Though I suspect, like when the simpleton in Beyond Thunderdome was asked what the plan was, if this administration had any capability for honesty, the answer would be the same:
"Plan?!? There is no plan!"
When Trump openly says that we're there to steal their stuff, and promises to do it to others; including NATO member and ally Denmark - hard for me to see how that is honorable. Though I'm equally certain you will find a way, when the time comes.
But hey, I'm just basing that on your chosen leader's words and actions.
Though if the last 10 years have taught me anything, it's not to expect such minor details to affect a true believer's reasoning.
And again, not that facts should ever matter to a klansman, but all indications are that what fentanyl is coming into America is coming from Mexico - not Venezuela.
And when it gets here, if Venezuelans are making people inject it, I've not heard of it. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Again, many of those dying and who've died from fentanyl got their first opiod addiction thanks to good old American Oxycontin. But I never saw a Sackler spend a day in jail, much less have the US Navy attack him.
Why not? Good thing they didn't own an oil well, huh?
And Most of what Venezuela is sending is cocaine and most of what they are intercepting goes to Europe. So we're spending all of these billions to making Europe Great Again, but we can't help Ukraine defend itself against Russia? I bet Zelensky wishes he had some photos of Trump and Bubba too, back in the day...hard to believe America's policies now depend on such things.
Yet here we are.
And pretending that it has nothing to do with wanting Venezuela's oil as well as rare earth minerals - when, again - your leader is openly saying that is what you covet - it's not surprising that you are buying it.
Seriously, when's the last time you didn't?
But rather that you expect everyone else to buy it as well.
Again, history shows this will likely not end well. For us.
We've already destroyed our honor and principles. Maybe it works different for you,
Senator Kaine is correct in that Congress has become irrelevant and he is complicit in making it so. He sat on his ass while Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden overreached their authority and he voted to give them that authority, or chose to ignore it. Now that President Trump is actually doing something about the drug cartels, instead ignoring them like Biden, Kaine is upset that he may succeed in taking Venezuela out of the equation. Kaine's TDS cannot allow him to let President Trump have any success. Thus, after 13 years he suddenly sees the need for Congress to do its job. Would that he helped Congress do its job with the budget instead of insisting on freebies on the taxpayers.
The Venezuela strike is not a one-off aberration; it is a vivid expression of a larger project that fuses executive overreach, oligarchic ambition, and a willingness to discard both constitutional limits and international law. Senator Tim Kaine is right to insist that this is an “illegal war” and that Congress has surrendered its core duty to decide when the nation goes to war. But to understand how dangerous this moment is, we have to place it in the broader strategy that has been hiding in plain sight.
In recent years, elites aligned with Project 2025 and similar blueprints have mapped out an American future in which democratic checks are treated as obstacles to be neutralized, not guardrails to be respected. These documents imagine a presidency unbound by traditional constraints, a bureaucracy purged and made personally loyal, and courts reshaped to ratify an aggressive “unitary executive” theory. As Anne Applebaum argues in Autocracy, Inc., twenty‑first‑century strongmen and their oligarch’s function less as isolated dictators and more as a global corporation of autocracy, using financial loopholes, propaganda, and mutual protection to entrench their power and wealth while rewriting the rules of the international system in their favor. Layered on top of that is the U.S. 2025 National Security Strategy explicitly carves the globe into spheres of influence where favored leaders and oligarchs are free to extract wealth with minimal interference, so long as they align with Washington’s power project.
What is playing out in Venezuela looks disturbingly like that model in action: a resource-rich country treated as a spoil of war; a people reduced to pawns in a contest over oil, contracts, and geopolitical bragging rights; and neighboring states warned to fall in line or risk similar treatment. This is not the rule of law; it is a privatized imperialism in which public power is deployed for private gain.
Congress is supposed to be the first line of defense against such abuse. The war power, the purse, and the impeachment power exist precisely so that no president can unilaterally plunge the country into wars of choice or convert the state into an instrument of oligarchic plunder. The Supreme Court, too, has a constitutional duty: to reject theories that turn the president into an elected monarch, and to defend the fundamental principle that no one is above the law.
None of that will happen by itself. It is time to organize more deeply, protest more visibly, and take back Congress in this year’s elections so that constitutional checks, and not oligarchic greed, set the course of American power.
Totally agree Sir. Thank you for your eloquence.
Again, as happens with most editorials from a certain local writer I could mention.....ahem...... while Senator Kaine's statement is true, what's NOT said in the spirit of "bipartisanship" (read appeasement) is that these arrogant, horrendous actions of illegality and empire building did not happen in a vacuum.
Although, like most actions by this cynical administration, they occurred with an eye toward when they would be under the least media scrutiny (weekend/holiday), were announced after the fact, even to Congress, rather than before - and happened when they could provide the most distraction from other actions by Trump - such as the recent, court ordered data dump of some of the files showing his lies regarding his ward, Epstein, who conveniently died under his care - the fact is this administration has been quite open about their intent to do exactly what they did.
They published a strategic paper months ago that clearly stated they were abandoning international principles of law and we would now become a robber nation, stealing from others in our hemisphere while ignoring such actions by other totalitarian states such as Russia and China.
And not only have local Republican Congressional members such as Wittman and Cline become complicit in their silence, along with their party leaders such as Johnson, Scott, Graham, Jordan, et.al.; we can no longer pretend and give a pass to the local members of that party which have chosen to ride along and pretend these atrocities have nothing to do with them.
No one is making them be a part of this. They too should bear the burden and shame for what they have hired to be done on their, and through our system of government - our behalf.
Unjustly, unwisely, cruelly, illegally.
Again, rights not given to all are rights not given to any. Merely privilege.
If we, as a nation, cannot see fit to obey the law for moral reasons, whatever that says about our honor; as the nation that has arguably benefitted the most from a world order based upon rule of law, we should do so as a matter of pragmatism and cold hard calculation.
While "kick their ass, and take their gas" might have made a funny bumper sticker back in the 70's, it is hardly a sound policy for the world's militarily mightiest country in the 21st century.
If the only way our capitalist system can survive is by stealing from others, then it is not really capitalism, merely theft dressed up for appearances sake. Fooling no one, shaming ourselves.
This will not end well. Not only for them, but for us.
Do not act surprised if the states of the Southern Hemisphere do not unite and rise against us.
Wouldn't we do the same, if the tables were turned?
I would.
Reminder: The first axiom of politics remains in full force.
"It is not the action taken by the person that causes the offense. It is the political affiliation of the person taking action that causes the offense."
Had a democrat President taken this action, there would be nothing but praise for it. Added bonus, it was Trump that took the action, so being triple offended is the correct response.
Sadly, - the weakness of your defense above, yet your compulsion to offer it anyway - ignoring the content and rather attacking the messenger - a vague idea that "they all do it" - does as much to show what I've said as much as anything I've said.
For that, I guess I thank you.
But just as the planets continued to move despite those who would have chosen to deny it in the time of Galileo, so too do I fear this disaster will get much worse before it gets better.
Trump, Rubio, Miller envision themselves as modern day McKinleys, looking to take over the Western Hemisphere as they cede the rest to Russia/China/whoever while making enemies of former allies, and uniting our enemies out of necessity - as we openly threaten to expand now into Cuba, Greenland, etc.
Because a more clear eyed world sees us more as the corrupt and ever weakening Spanish empire that McKinley was able to take advantage of a century ago.
The world has changed since then. I do not anticipate the lands of Simon Bolivar, which threw off colonialism 50 years after us, and slavery 40 years before us - to meekly submit to this clear and open theft pretending to be righteousness.
We're stealing Venezuela because our citizens illegally choose to take fentanyl manufactured in Mexico from chemicals generated in China?
Huh?
Venezuela would be more justified to steal the United States based upon any of their citizens getting addicted to the Oxycontin the US allowed the Sacklers to produce.
So while, in a pitying way, I admire the effort to defend the indefensible - no matter what zealotry compels it - it does nothing to make this any better than it is.
I've said it before, and it's demonstrated again - Russia could have landed two army groups in this country and not done the damage to our nation that Republicans have done through their worship of Trump over the last 10 years.
Truly wish I was wrong, but I'm not.
Not that it matters, I guess.
Carry on.
Your verbose and erratic defense of a socialist dictator and leader of a drug cartel is astounding. Next, you'll be declaring that the cartels have a right to ship fentanyl laced drugs into America and across the world, because they are just trying to make a living.
Before you go crying for the people of Venezuela over the actions of President Trump, perhaps you should ask the Venezuelans for their opinion. You know, the ones dancing in the streets for joy.
Interesting how you studiously see a defense of the United State's Constitution, rule of law, wealth, people and honor as a defense of Maduro.
How convenient.
And I'm certain the irony of pardoning a convicted drug dealer at the same time you're justifying invading and taking over another country to capture an alleged one is way over your head.
Since, as you mentioned, because what matters to you most is the politics, not the facts.
Personally, I'm a lot more indifferent to a socialist dictator in a country most Americans couldn't find without Google, as compared to a fascist one right here.
But hey, you do you, big guy.
As for the people of Venezuela, I wish them well - though time and again, the early euphoria from such abrupt changes result in harm as likely as good.
See Iran, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
And typically, those actions were carried out by a more seasoned, rational, professional cadre of diplomats as compared to the current post-purge group leading this. Where not even Trump and Rubio can get on the same page of what the plan is.
Though I suspect, like when the simpleton in Beyond Thunderdome was asked what the plan was, if this administration had any capability for honesty, the answer would be the same:
"Plan?!? There is no plan!"
When Trump openly says that we're there to steal their stuff, and promises to do it to others; including NATO member and ally Denmark - hard for me to see how that is honorable. Though I'm equally certain you will find a way, when the time comes.
But hey, I'm just basing that on your chosen leader's words and actions.
Though if the last 10 years have taught me anything, it's not to expect such minor details to affect a true believer's reasoning.
And again, not that facts should ever matter to a klansman, but all indications are that what fentanyl is coming into America is coming from Mexico - not Venezuela.
And when it gets here, if Venezuelans are making people inject it, I've not heard of it. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Again, many of those dying and who've died from fentanyl got their first opiod addiction thanks to good old American Oxycontin. But I never saw a Sackler spend a day in jail, much less have the US Navy attack him.
Why not? Good thing they didn't own an oil well, huh?
And Most of what Venezuela is sending is cocaine and most of what they are intercepting goes to Europe. So we're spending all of these billions to making Europe Great Again, but we can't help Ukraine defend itself against Russia? I bet Zelensky wishes he had some photos of Trump and Bubba too, back in the day...hard to believe America's policies now depend on such things.
Yet here we are.
And pretending that it has nothing to do with wanting Venezuela's oil as well as rare earth minerals - when, again - your leader is openly saying that is what you covet - it's not surprising that you are buying it.
Seriously, when's the last time you didn't?
But rather that you expect everyone else to buy it as well.
Again, history shows this will likely not end well. For us.
We've already destroyed our honor and principles. Maybe it works different for you,
Carry on. I'll be moving on now.
Enjoy your fantasies. While they last.
“Every time I think progressives can’t get dumber, they shout “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”
Senator Kaine is correct in that Congress has become irrelevant and he is complicit in making it so. He sat on his ass while Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden overreached their authority and he voted to give them that authority, or chose to ignore it. Now that President Trump is actually doing something about the drug cartels, instead ignoring them like Biden, Kaine is upset that he may succeed in taking Venezuela out of the equation. Kaine's TDS cannot allow him to let President Trump have any success. Thus, after 13 years he suddenly sees the need for Congress to do its job. Would that he helped Congress do its job with the budget instead of insisting on freebies on the taxpayers.