This evening, there are worries about the escalations involving Venezuela and all the problems that it’s been causing as pertains to drugs and, apparently, concerns that the country is threatening our national security. Also, some are worried that there are efforts in place to overthrow the government of that South American country.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the nation from, most likely, the Oval Office at 9:00 on the east coast, about forty-five minutes from the time this article was published. For those who don’t know, a primetime address from the president on the Oval Office usually means something major is afoot. There even rumblings of war.
Unhinged media personality Tucker Carlson has come forward in recent hours to claim that President Trump will announce that he is about to declare war. He further claims that some members of Congress have already been briefed, so then that must mean that Congress will or has already declared war.
Carlson, though, claimed that Trump himself will announce his declaration of war. There’s just one problem with that, and it’s a little thing called, you know, the Constitution. It’s quite clear that the president, no matter how awesome he is, cannot formally declare war on his own. This is confirmed by Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 and it has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
Most of us in the United States and many around the world are aware that only Congress can declare war. In order for that to happen, the president must address Congress and outline exactly why war should be declared. But to be fair, there is the matter of Article II of the Constitution, which gives the president certain war powers. That is a valid reason to be concerned about what Trump may or may not announce tonight.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation published an article that addresses that concern:
“In actuality, the Constitution provides the president with inherent powers to use military force without congressional authorization for defensive purposes. While this power is necessarily limited, it is significant and ensures that, even absent an AUMF, the president retains the ability to use military force in order to defend the national security of the United States.”
In theory, Trump can make the argument that the United States has a legitimate need to defend itself against Venezuela. Will he plead his case to the nation tonight? If he does use any war power that he has, another Vietnam will happen: the majority of the nation will turn on him.
Remember, if Trump uses his powers or if he convinces Congress to declare war, countless American lives will be lost at the expense of our military personnel. Is it really worth it to send thousands of our soldiers back in boxes? Will Trump stand at the dignified transfer of every member of the military who died because of his apparent desire to take formal action against Venezuela?
Numerous men died because of former President George W. Bush’s desire for vengeance. None of those lives should have been snuffed out because Bush wanted to score points with the American people, preying on their emotions as opposed to acting with wisdom, something that Bush never showed.
Remember, this is the guy who wanted us to “put food on [our] families.” He sent numerous servicemen to their deaths and I don’t think that he ever lost a moment of sleep over that. If Trump orders that the military be deployed over this, then, as much as I like him, I hope that he loses a lot of sleep over the fact that his decision will kill many and for no good reason.
The only valid war that we’ve participated in is, again, The War of 1812. Getting into a confrontation with Venezuela will accomplish nothing but cause numerous dignified transfers.
Now, Congress has declared war eleven times involving five separate conflicts. Some of the declarations of war involved:
- The War of 1812, against Britain, a country that should be our enemy, not our ally.
- Mexican-American War
- Spanish-American War
- World War I
- World War II
- Korean War
- Vietnam War, a move that alienated and divided our nation
- Persian Gulf War, a move that shouldn’t have been made as we did not need to be involved.
- After the events of 9/11, a clear move to exact revenge and a move to murder a man who should not have been unalived
When you look back at it, it should be clear to anyone with a brain that Congress should have declared war only once. The War of 1812 was the only justifiable declaration. Everything else was about petty revenge and about becoming involved in things that we should not have concerned ourselves with. But that’s for another day.
In addition to the reasons that I outlined above, Trump may be concerned with the military assets that we have in that country, something that should have never happened. There are several other reasons and none of them justify a declaration of war. I say that because although the motives appear to be about keeping our country safe, there are other ways to handle things.
Everyone knows that if we attack, Venezuela and its allies will surely respond and they will do so quickly and without regard for anything but defending the indefensible. Here’s the problem: the country does in fact have allies and at least one of them has been chomping at the bit to nuke us for decades.
Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, and Turkey are just some of the countries who will absolutely come to Venezuela’s defense, especially if they feel that we are bullying Venezuela. I have to be honest: if we were to attack the country, it would actually be a form of bullying as there is no valid reason to issue a formal declaration of war. But then again, Congress declared war on Vietnam, so there is a track record of approving things that ought not be approved.
Russia and China definitely have the resources to cause us grave harm if we start something. Let’s not be naive here: Russia has nukes aimed at us right this very moment, just as ours are aimed at them. If we declare war on Venezuela, Putin might very will consider going nuclear, and I’m not talking about his temper.
Do we really want to start World War III for something petty? It seems like declaring war should be reserved for something valid. At this moment, Venezuela is posing no clear threat to us. They haven’t launched weapons against us. They haven’t made threats. If it’s even true that Trump is considering approaching Congress about this, I am sure that they will turn Trump away.
Now, I absolutely support the guy. He is the best president I have known in my lifetime. However, if he were to convince Congress to sign off on a possible war, then he could be playing games with the lives of 300 million people and it’s a game that none of us would win. Does he really want that on his conscience, especially over petty things?
If you ask me, and I know that you didn’t, we have only declared war that was actually needed once. Just once. Every other war should have and could have gone on without our participation. Given that track record, anyone who supports declaring war isn’t thinking things through and that could prove costly in the form of the lives of many.
Now, do I think he’ll support formally declaring war? I don’t think so as that’s a drastic move and I do not think that his advisors would ever go for such a thing. Anyone who does should be fired. Out of a cannon and into Russian waters, where they can deal with them.
It will be interesting to see what has Trump to say. Like I pointed out, addressing the nation during primetime from the Oval Office is a pretty big deal, whether it’s from the Oval Office or elsewhere. He’s not doing the address to wish us a merry Christmas. It might be something benign, but I keep going back to the time and place of the address to the nation.
Of course, there is the possibility that Trump simply wants our oil back, but is oil more important than military lives and citizens’ lives if Trump goes nuclear, figuratively speaking for now?
But then again, after our military murdered Osama bin Laden when they should have not done so, former president Barack Hussein Obama addressed us away from the Oval Office, so it’s possible that Trump could be announcing something trivial. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
As for me, the moment that this article is published will be the moment that I close my laptop and roll over and go to bed. Whatever happens just plain happens and, with my phone on Do Not Disturb, I won’t know anything until I wake up in the morning to what will no doubt be dozens of breaking news notifications.