Is Trump's 'adventurism' legal? Kentucky delegation says no

Members of Kentucky's federal delegation to the US Congress are actively opposing President Donald Trump's flip from "America First" to imperialism, as evidenced by his recent unilateral invasion of Venezuela, which included kidnapping that country's leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a late night raid. Also at issue to Kentucky's Congressional leaders, are Trump's comments this week about wanting to annex Greenland, and his intimations that Cuba and Colombia might well be next for invasion.

In an effort to "reassert constitutional authority over Donald Trump’s dangerous military adventurism" Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky), co-sponsored the Venezuela War Powers Resolution, along with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), which yesterday advanced in the Senate by a vote of 52-47.

The bipartisan Resolution demands Trump "terminate the use of US Armed Forces for hostilities within or against Venezuela unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted." The Resolutions also directs that if attacked, the US should defend itself.

In the House, Thomas Massie (R-Ky) also participated in a move intended to check warmongering by Trump. In December, he cosponsored a bipartisan resolution which, in response to Trump's military attacks on Venezuelan sea craft, sought to pre-empt further attacks. The resolution directed Trump "to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted." The resolution failed to advance.

War powers belong to Congress

The Constitution specifies that only Congress can declare war, but how this is described has been a matter of debate since the nation's founding. There are scholars who say that Article II gives Congress power over 'full-scale" wars, but that the Executive branch can engage in other defense actions.

In this century, Congress has been criticized roundly by those who say the Legislative body has abdicated its role as the check on the Executive brach of our tripartite system of governance. Despite multiple US military incursions since, Congress last officially declared war in 1941, when the US entered WWII against Germany, Italy, and Japan.

However, the US has engaged in multiple wars without a declaration of war from Congress. Instead, there have been "resolutions" that authorized respective presidents to attack other nations, including in Vietnam (Tonkin Gulf Resolution 1964). In 1973, reacting to the atrocity of the undeclared Vietnam War, Congress passed the War Powers Act reinforcing the Constitution's original article stating that only Congress has the power to declare war.

Congress passed the 2001 Authorization of Military Force, in order to give President George W. Bush broad powers after 9/11 to attack any "nation, organization, or person" deemed hostile to the United States, leading to our Global War on Terror, including the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Then, in 2022, there was the Authorization for use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, which also led to war. President Obama was also given authority to invade Libya, with a Congressional resolution in 2011.

President HW Bush did not have Congressional authority to invade Panama in 1989, abducting its leader, Manuel Noriega, and placing him on drug trafficking charges in the US. Nor did President Clinton have Congress's implicit blessing in 1999 when he attacked Serbians in Kosovo. President Biden, too, engaged in military campaigns in Yemen and Syria, leaning not on permission from Congress, but on Article II of the Constitution.

McConnell is outlier

In response to Congress's present bipartisan attempts to restrain him, Trump lashed out on Truth Social, claiming the War Powers Act of 1973 is "Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution." Trump also said the Republican Party should be "ashamed" of party members, including Paul, who supported the resolution to end his invasion of Venezeula.

Outgoing Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), broke with his Kentucky Congressional colleagues, issuing a statement in support of Trump's invasion of Venezuela, saying Trump acted legally by having notified Congress within two days of the attack, and by withdrawing from Venezuela once Maduro was in custody.

McConnell continued: “[R]ecent history provides clear precedent from presidents of both parties. What authority did this operation exceed that President Obama or President Reagan did not exceed in operations in Libya? Or President Clinton in Kosovo? What makes this time different than President Biden’s strikes in Syria or Yemen? Certainly, there’s little daylight between the legality of this operation and the one President H.W. Bush undertook to apprehend Manuel Noriega in Panama."

In a separate statement, McConnell denounced talks of a Greenland take-over. “Threats and intimidation by U.S. officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive," he said in the statement, noting that the loyalty of our allies in the Arctic would be threatened were we to attack them, leaving us vulnerable to Russia or China.

Schumer, encouraged his Congressional colleagues to use its "Constitutional authority ... to say no to endless wars ... [H]ere is what Trump said on oversight of Venezuela. He said it could last for years..."

Protestors hold vigil for ICE shooting victim

More than 100 locals gathered in Fee Park last evening to hold what marchers called an "ICE OUT"candle light vigil. Lisa Abbott, co-founder of the local citizens action group, We Show Up, said the intention was to "grieve the killing of Renee Good and the deaths of at least 32 other people while in ICE custody over the last year."

Controversy has erupted nationally following Monday's death of Minneapolis resident, Renee Goode, after a masked ICE agent shot her in the face through the windshield of her Honda Pilot. Federal agents then prevented medics from reaching Goode. She died on the scene.

Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem has claimed the agent was acting within his rights, saying that Goode was a "domestic terrorist" who had tried to ram the agent with her vehicle. Video footage of the shooting disputes that claim, however.

Meanwhile, the DHS has released a statement claiming that vehicular assaults on ICE agents are up 3,200% over the past year. The statement also claims assaults on ICE agents are up 1,300%, and death threats against them are up 8,000%.

"Dangerous criminals – whether they be illegal aliens or U.S. citizens – are assaulting law enforcement and turning their vehicles into weapons to attack law enforcement,” claimed DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in the statement.

Speaking about Goode's death, Abbott told The Edge in an email, "If this incident happened in another country, news reports would say that she was a human rights observer, gunned down in daylight by a member of a secret police force sent by a dictator for the purpose of terrorizing, detaining, and subduing residents of a major city known for powerful labor organizing, community organizing, interfaith organizing, progressive politics, and a large population of Black citizens and Black refugees, including many Somali Americans. We've come to that point. This is who and where we are."

Locally, there is not an ICE presence, according to Berea's chief of police, Jason Hays. In an interview, Hays told The Edge that his department has so far declined to enter into a contract with ICE to work as an extension of the federal force tasked with detaining illegal aliens, because he said, it is "not necessary" in this community.