“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.
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Not kinglike at all.
More from the NYT: Trump Says He Will Not Seek Authorization for Cartel Strikes.
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, but formal declarations are rare and have not been issued since World War II. Lawmakers have more often passed authorizations for the use of military force to grant the president permission to use force against specific targets.
The last time a president sought such a resolution was in October 2002, when President George W. Bush asked for authorization to use military force against Iraq. Congress approved that measure, and it has been cited for decades as the legal basis for military operations around the world carried out by subsequent administrations of both parties.
Though he repeatedly referred to the military operation targeting drug trafficking as a “war,” Mr. Trump said he would not seek any formal approval from lawmakers to continue striking boats or expand it to include airstrikes against countries like Venezuela, where he says the cartels originate.
Clearly, the Constitution is for suckers.
And yet, the administration wants to use the term “war.”
“The cartels are waging war against America and just like I promised in the campaign, we are waging war against them,” he said in the White House state dining room flanked by members of his cabinet, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“The land is going to be next,” he added.
Mr. Hegseth said the operation was aimed not only at deterrence but also elimination.
“Every boat we strike is 25,000 Americans whose lives were saved because of the drugs that were headed in our direction,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Our message to these foreign terrorists organizations is: We will treat you like we have treated Al Qaeda, we will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down and we will kill you.”
Or, if you survive an attack, we’ll send you home because the evidence is not as strong as we claim, and we don’t really want any formal investigations and fact-finding to get in the way of our murder spree.
You know, like we treated al Qaeda.
