Democrats were already coming after Donald Trump, but once he had Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro arrested, they really lost it.
Most Democrats opposed the arrest, even though there was plenty of precedent for it (I have covered this exhaustively in other reports).
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley now believes the Dems are reviving the lawfare angle to try to drum up more support for impeachment ahead of the midterm elections, and I don’t necessarily disagree with him.
Trump announced Maduro's arrest over the weekend, stating, "Last night and early today, at my direction, the United States armed forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. … It was an operation against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice.”
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added, "Our interagency work began months ago and built on decades of experience [with] integrating complex air, ground, space and maritime operations. … We watched, we waited, we prepared, we remained patient and professional. … This was an audacious operation that only the United States could do.”
The arrest was framed as an operation meant to bring a fugitive to justice, even though Trump’s comments after the fact raised some serious questions about potentially compromising the prosecution's case.
For example, Trump had told the media that he talked to oil companies both before and after the arrest, which Democrats jumped all over as proof that the operation was about oil and regime change, not justice.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded as we would expect, painting the operation as an act of war, even though it was not remotely close to such a thing.
He stated, “The Trump administration has not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela. The promotion of security and stability in a region requires more than just military force as we painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Jeffries concluded, “Pursuant to the Constitution, the framers gave Congress the sole power to declare war as the branch of government closest to the American people. The House and Senate must be briefed immediately and compelling evidence to explain and justify this unauthorized use of military force should be presented forthwith.”
That is a fancy way of saying that the Democrats are now considering impeaching Trump for supposedly overstepping his bounds.
Turley, one of the few commentators I think is worth his salt, sees this from the same viewpoint as I do, writing, “As they work to take back the House in the midterms, Democrats are again promising voters the equivalent of the Roman Games by restarting impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. For many liberal voters, impeachment has become the thrilling cage match of lawfare.”
He later added, “The same people who introduced what I called an abusive ‘snap impeachment’ against Trump are now suggesting that he can be impeached for an act that was previously upheld as lawful in the courts.”
Turley's op-ed for Fox News goes on to detail the plan and key players he expects the Democrat Party will use to pull this off, including Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who served as House counsel during the impeachments that took place during Trump’s first term.
If there is one thing that could save the GOP from losing the White House in 2028, this could be it. I think the American people have impeachment fatigue, and having Democrats stand up for a dictator might just be the breaking point. But we will soon find out, as history predicts a major midterm cycle defeat for the GOP. This time next year, we will start to get the answers.
