Donald Trump and several members of Congress are not playing nice with one another right now.
Trump is seeing resistance in both the House and Senate, but the move that was just made against him in the upper chamber is not sitting particularly well.
As Trump does, he let those responsible know it.
The limitation on war powers in Venezuela that was just approved in the Senate is really nothing more than a symbolic win for this particular group of Republicans, and I have to wonder what the cost of it might be to the party itself.
Five senators sided against Trump in a vote that passed 52-47 to push forward legislation meant to dial back Trump’s war powers.
The goal here was to prevent the president from using the military against Venezuela in any future moves.
The problem, however, is that the measure will still have to get through the House, which it may do, but then Trump would have to sign it, which will never happen.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was among the five rebels, but he wanted people to understand his reasoning.
He explained, “With regard to Venezuela, my read of the Constitution is that if the President feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it."
Hawley continued, “That’s why I voted yes on this morning’s Senate resolution.”
The real test will be next week when the bill goes up for the final vote, and I am just wondering how many will stand firm at that point.
I don’t know why Trump is worried about this or making a big deal about it because the measure will have to get through him before it becomes law, but he was quite upset, nonetheless.
He posted, “Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again.”
So, Trump wants to remove five more members of the Senate because they pushed back against him. And I know some people are saying to just look at their names, as most of them are the usual suspects when it comes to opposition inside the GOP, but let’s take a deeper dive into this for just a second.
A true MAGA candidate will never get elected in Maine or Alaska, and Indiana and Kentucky are borderline. Whether we like it or not, we need moderates to win and hold seats there, and that means that there will be occasional pushback on policy. Trump has to learn to live with this type of back and forth because the alternative involves handing both chambers of Congress back to Democrats, and what do you think happens then?
