“Why can’t we just invade Venezuela?”

President Donald Trump

Astonishingly, there has not been a single word of outrage from any member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, to recent revelations that in August 2017 President Trump asked top foreign policy advisers about the possibility of invading Venezuela during a meeting on diplomatic sanctions the U.S. was enacting on the autocratic government in Caracas.

According to a senior administration official familiar with his comments, Trump’s aides, including then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster, vigorously urged against a military invasion of Venezuela, warning him it could backfire and that U.S. allies in the region were firmly opposed to such drastic measures.  Further, taking military action against Venezuela would be a dramatic escalation of the America’s thus-far solely diplomatic and sanctions-focused response to Venezuela’s political and economic turmoil and anti-American rhetoric.

Of greater concern is why apparently none of the president’s aides forcefully argued any such invasion was tantamount to declaring war, something that only Congress can authorize.  Even pursuant to the constitutionally questionable War Powers Act, there was, and still is, no justification for attacking any country that does not first attack or become a clear and present danger to the United States.

Such a foreign threat standard clearly excludes not only Venezuela but also Syria and, at present, even North Korea.  While Russia and China represent infinitely greater threats, fortunately the president is not contemplating going to war with either of those nations.

Hopefully, if our current, or any president goes off the reservation and orders an unjustified or unconstitutional armed attack on another country his military commanders … whose sole loyalty and obligation is to “support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and not to any single individual, including a sitting president … will refuse to carry out such orders.

A potentially related matter of concern is the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.  His views on Roe v. Wade, while a paramount issue for many groups, pales to his stated position that would, “Provide sitting presidents with a temporary deferral of civil suits and of criminal prosecutions and investigations,”    His opinion that, “If the president does something dastardly, the impeachment process is available,” is a naive and unrealistic restraint on a president’s power and behavior in today’s highly partisan political climate.

We are a nation of laws in which no individual, president or average citizen, should be immune from full and timely accountability for criminal or civil actions they commit in violation of federal or state laws.  To grant even temporary immunity can only serve to embolden a president to stray from or stretch the limits of their enumerated powers or even commit crimes for which their fellow citizens would face swift justice.

If becoming the target of an investigation affects a president’s ability to carry out their duties, they should resign or temporarily step aside until the matters in question are resolved or when they can reliably resume their responsibilities.

There must be no Free Passes or Get Out-of-Jail Cards for any elected official!

Meanwhile, President Trump’s continuing barrage of attacks on America’s historic allies and democratic partners, while fawning over, pandering to and appeasing, autocrats in Russia  (as he did in his joint news conference with Putin in Helsinki), the Philippines, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and most recently to his new-found friend in North Korea who have abysmal records on the protection of freedom and human rights, is more than mildly alarming.

Some of the frightening  characteristics of these despots the president so warmly embraces are their attempts to: denigrate and even control the media; disseminate false and misleading information hoping the public accepts such alternative-facts as truth; label identifiable groups as a causes for their society’s problems; develop a personality cult built around themselves; ignore human rights violations; dismiss science when it conflicts with their agenda; permit rampant cronyism; use “national security” as a rallying cry to justify unpopular, undemocratic or extra-constitutional actions; discredit election results they dislike; encourage the entanglement of religion and government; and the  lionizing of the military.

Is anyone really paying attention?