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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The U.S. Senate’s resolution aiming to handcuff President Donald Trump, barring him from taking additional military action against Iran, should be soundly rejected: It’s an unconstitutional violation of Article II, which makes the president commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Every president since 1950 has launched military operations against foreign governments, without seeking Congress’ permission or a declaration of war.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet Trump’s strategic air attack on Iran Saturday is evoking a torrent of vitriol from Democrats in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 They’re calling him “an authoritarian ruler” and claiming the strikes are a “gross violation of the Constitution” because Trump did not ask Congress for a declaration of war first.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Nonsense.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 These Democrats are knowingly lying to the public — and impairing Trump’s stature abroad.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The United States has not declared war since 1942, when the nation entered World War II.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Since then, Harry Truman ordered air and naval forces to South Korea in 1950.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Vietnam in 1965.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And Bill Clinton took military action in 1999 to stop mass-murdering Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And George W. Bush dispatched troops to Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom to topple Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And Barack Obama deployed the military to take out Libyan autocrat Muammar Gaddafi.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Members of the opposition party often objected to those choices — though not with the degrading ad hominem attacks Democrats are hurling at Trump.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Congress has tried to rein in this presidential power.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In 1973, at the tail end of the Vietnam War, it passed the War Powers Resolution, which requires the president to notify Congress before military action begins, and requires a presidential report to Congress within 48 hours of troop deployment.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The president then has 60 days to finish the action or to secure congressional authorization for the operation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 So far, Trump appears to be complying with the resolution.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He notified congressional leaders just before the strike began and has kept them briefed as it continues.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 But he doesn’t have to: As Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Tuesday, every president since 1973 has disputed the WPR’s constitutionality.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 When Clinton defied the WPR to take military action in Kosovo, and when Obama brushed it aside to go into Libya, members of Congress sued — and lost in court both times.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 That means there’s no constitutional precedent for handcuffing the commander in chief as congressional Democrats demand.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Old-timer Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was on the scene for the Clinton and Obama military forays, knows that Trump is on firm ground.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet she lashed out on social media after the Iran strike, claiming he “ignored the Constitution.”<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The hypocrisy and malice are stunning.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 But it’s no surprise — the Israel-loathing Left is taking over the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Even as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is vilifying his texting buddy for killing Ali Khamenei, Iranians in New York (and London, Los Angeles and around the world) are dancing with joy in the streets.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Listen to the Iranians, not the partisan politicians.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 As for the rhetorical attacks dominating the news, these mislead the public about what the Constitution requires.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) accuses Trump of being “a would-be dictator” who “cares nothing about our sacred Constitution.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In fact, the Constitution’s framers wanted a commander in chief empowered to act with “secrecy” and “despatch,” as Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 70.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The framers gave Congress the authority to “declare war” only after considering, but rejecting, broader language that would have given it the power to “make war.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 That more general power should belong to the president, framers Elbridge Gerry and James Madison explained.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And it does.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Yet Murphy, who has been in Congress since 2007 and witnessed firsthand presidents from both parties calling the shots on military interventions, raged this week that “it’s clear as day” the president is violating the Constitution.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Wrong.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 What’s “clear as day” is that partisan critics would rather resort to lies and demean the United States on the world stage than give Trump credit for ridding the world of a nuclear threat and leading fomenter of murderous terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and Chairman & Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths at www.hospitalinfection.org. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.<\/em><\/p>\n
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