Russell Berman and Elaine Godfrey: “Representative Seth Moulton is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, but he learned about the U.S. military’s middle-of-the-night capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro the same way many Americans did: A friend who saw the news on the internet texted him.
“‘That is not the way Congress is supposed to be notified of operations by the Department of Defense,” Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told us wryly. Still, Moulton was surprised neither by the Trump administration’s decision to attack Venezuela nor by the fact that it declined to give Congress a heads-up about the mission, much less seek its approval. A Marine who served four tours of duty in Iraq, Moulton had watched for months as the military stationed warships off Venezuela’s coast, and he gave little credence to the insistence of senior administration officials, in classified briefings to lawmakers, that they were not planning to take out Maduro. ‘I know what it means to be a Marine, sitting on a ship off the coast, and you’re not there to interdict boats or conduct a naval blockade,’ he said. ‘Those are ground troops. And so it was no mystery to me why they were there.’
“The president and his aides can lie to Congress with impunity, he argued, because the Republicans who run the House and Senate have shown they will do nothing about it. ‘This is the weakest Congress in American history,; Moulton said, accusing Republican leaders of making a co-equal branch of the federal government ‘essentially fade away.’
“Moulton is running for a Senate seat, giving him even more reason than usual to criticize the GOP. But his views about Congress’s self-diminishment are widely shared inside and outside the Capitol, and the facts are hard to dispute. In the first weeks after Donald Trump returned to the White House, top Republicans offered no protest as his administration flouted their constitutional authority over spending, shutting down agencies that Congress had authorized and funded. Now the same leaders are handing over Congress’s power to authorize war-making without a fight. They’ve hardly made a peep over a military attack in which the administration cut out even the senior-most lawmakers, who are customarily informed about major operations.”
It’s a republican congress, republican senate, republican SCOTUS, republican president
Man…I still see people today in this sub being like “yeaaaah but not really sold on democrats”
Retaining-Wall on
Congress is more of a power bottom these days.
susibirb on
I called my representative today and asked the gal on the phone that question.
OkayButFoRealz on
GOP has abdicated everything to Trump. We have taxation and no representation. Trump’s regime has become the very Deep State swamp the MAGAts harped about.
He really can do anything because the GOP congress just lets him, and the Supreme Court courtesy of the shadow docket nearly always sides with him.
Mikethebest78 on
Sure it does…to enrich members of the ruling party and to give Mr. Trump’s policies the illusion of legitimacy.
micro___penis on
I studied history and geopolitics at Berkeley:
Trump already burned his Reichstag down by enabling Mike Johnson to let the powers of congress desiccate before our eyes.
If you don’t know what that means — Hitler dismantled Germany’s legislature before invading countries like Czechoslovakia/Venezuela and Poland/Greenland.
Avoidtolls on
Citizens United has successfully disemboweled our once great democracy. We are now a dictatorship.
Bromance_Rayder on
After the 100th person points out that my home is on fire, do I really need a 101st? No, I need someone to grab a fucking hose.
Vegetable-Seaweed591 on
Congress wasn’t notified but Trump has stated he talked to oil executives ‘BEFORE and after the operation’ to prepare them to move into Venezuela. Yup, he told oil execs about the operation before it happened.
JuicyTalleywhacker on
I wish the congress and house was entirely replaced with people under 40 and stock trading by politicians was illegal.
*blinks*
🙁
GRRA-1 on
They exist as much as the Russian Duma or China’s National People’s Congress exist.
RamblingReddit on
“I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything about that” -mike johnson
Jedigreedo on
The Republicans have completely forfeited their relevancy to give Johnson all their power, who obviously is a completely shameless Yes Man to Trump.
The Democrats are useless as they’re divided between dinosaurs who still think this is a game that’ll swing back for their turn, Israel-controlled centrists, and a handful of progressives that are continually stifled by the others.
strolpol on
The Republican Party is the single greatest threat America has ever faced
localhorizon on
Reminder that the GOP holds the majority in both houses.
The pressure point is not the Dems this time, but the Republicans who may be able to make the calculation that they won’t get votes back in if they keep fucking around.
This means relentlessly calling, emailing, mailing, and picketing at local Republican offices.
AbrumVonAbrak on
Functionally? No.
AnamCeili on
No.
EnvironmentalSong393 on
No.
Timeformayo on
Not when the GOP controls it. They have given away power to their dementia-addled Caesar.
Gerald_the_sealion on
No. My senator and Rep both don’t respond to calls or emails. Brian Fitzpatrick, you’re a cuck. Fetterman, go to hell
tapwater86 on
For purposes of collecting a paycheck and reviewing information to help guide their insider trading?
Yes
For everything else?
No
muchbro on
I’m honestly more mad at congress than I am Trump at this point.
We all know Trump is a deranged lunatic. Where tf is Congress? Do your job. Or anything at all really.
Skate_faced on
The World: Dudes, fucking do something!?!?!! Actual fucking government sponsored nazis are killing people.
GOP: LOL nope!
Depressed-Industry on
Mike Johnson is actively helping to destroy the country.
TRtheCat on
In name only.
straightnochase on
No
mpworth on
The truth is that Americans on all sides have been standing by while the Executive Branch has become increasingly overpowered for decades. People like Dan Carlin have been warning about this since at least the 90s.
Giving unprecedented power to a Democratic president also gives that power to any Republican president who comes later, and vice versa. But Americans have been shortsighted on this.
They have stood by while their own checks and balances have been eroded, and this basically made it inevitable that eventually some narcissistic tyrant would come to power and exploit the fact that the checks and balances had been reduced to an honour system.
And here we are: man utterly without honour is now at the head of that honour system. And now my country is in jeopardy because of it. I am angry at every single American old enough to vote. But I’m a whole lot more angry at some than others.
Inevitable_Butthole on
Trump already has justified ICE killing American citizens and has openly defended them stating she was a radical leftist.
As a reminder, the normal response would’ve been a full investigation and holding those accountable to the rule of law.
What he has done is implicitly allowed ICE to continue murdering Americans as they see fit. If you get in their way, you’re a radical leftist and they can now kill you. Meanwhile Trump will ensure that they will not be held accountable.
This is the brown shirt playbook and how nazis rose to power.
Correct_Doctor_1502 on
They voted to protect the guy who sent a crowd to kill them to stop the election because they weren’t killed
They literally rubber stamped the end of our nation
CMDR_kanonfoddar on
No, not in any way that matters. It’s now just another grift.
Wake up, it’s no longer a republic, you are now living under a fascist dictatorship. Either you’re filthy rich and therefore priviledged, hardcore MAGA to be milked by the rich until you die of a completely preventable illness (or wake up to what’s realky going on), or you’re an enemy of the state i.e. ‘domestic terrorist’.
Which are you?
xrangax on
It exists in so far as they collect their cheques and benefits every month.
It does not exist when it comes to doing their constitutionally mandated jobs.
AppleMelon95 on
The purpose of congress is to be filled with just enough people that don’t do shit so the the dictator can do what he wants.
imaruko on
Funny how “the greatest democracy ever” collapses like a cheap cinematic universe the moment Trump stops reading from the script.
RoachBeBrutal on
Signs point to No
Ok_Cucumber_7954 on
Only to collect paychecks and insider trading information.
-You-know-it- on
Remember when one of them was in a nursing home for 6 months and no one even knew or cared. …Because that’s how little the US congress does now.
Street_Barracuda1657 on
They’re still on Mike Johnson’s extended Grindr holiday. Priorities matter.
whooo_me on
~~Congress will stop a rogue President.~~
~~The Supreme Court will stop a rogue President.~~
~~The army won’t follow a rogue President’s orders.~~
???
Critical_Brother_569 on
As a citizen of a country that the United States officially threatens, it is beyond my imagination how your nation can descend into such a deep abyss so quickly.
And you do nothing. Your representatives just sit on their hands.
Our relationship with the United States will never be the same again. It’s like watching your dear old grandmother crumble before your eyes.
Once the “leader of the free world” – never again!
bob-knights-chair91 on
No lol finally someone is talking about it.
maryummy on
Congress died when the Republicans decided that their only legislative goal was to block Obama. They decided then that their loyalty was to their party, not America.
43 Comments
Russell Berman and Elaine Godfrey: “Representative Seth Moulton is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, but he learned about the U.S. military’s middle-of-the-night capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro the same way many Americans did: A friend who saw the news on the internet texted him.
“‘That is not the way Congress is supposed to be notified of operations by the Department of Defense,” Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told us wryly. Still, Moulton was surprised neither by the Trump administration’s decision to attack Venezuela nor by the fact that it declined to give Congress a heads-up about the mission, much less seek its approval. A Marine who served four tours of duty in Iraq, Moulton had watched for months as the military stationed warships off Venezuela’s coast, and he gave little credence to the insistence of senior administration officials, in classified briefings to lawmakers, that they were not planning to take out Maduro. ‘I know what it means to be a Marine, sitting on a ship off the coast, and you’re not there to interdict boats or conduct a naval blockade,’ he said. ‘Those are ground troops. And so it was no mystery to me why they were there.’
“The president and his aides can lie to Congress with impunity, he argued, because the Republicans who run the House and Senate have shown they will do nothing about it. ‘This is the weakest Congress in American history,; Moulton said, accusing Republican leaders of making a co-equal branch of the federal government ‘essentially fade away.’
“Moulton is running for a Senate seat, giving him even more reason than usual to criticize the GOP. But his views about Congress’s self-diminishment are widely shared inside and outside the Capitol, and the facts are hard to dispute. In the first weeks after Donald Trump returned to the White House, top Republicans offered no protest as his administration flouted their constitutional authority over spending, shutting down agencies that Congress had authorized and funded. Now the same leaders are handing over Congress’s power to authorize war-making without a fight. They’ve hardly made a peep over a military attack in which the administration cut out even the senior-most lawmakers, who are customarily informed about major operations.”
Read more: [https://theatln.tc/HIqHoLDP](https://theatln.tc/HIqHoLDP)
It only exists to facilitate insider trading.
It’s a republican congress, republican senate, republican SCOTUS, republican president
Man…I still see people today in this sub being like “yeaaaah but not really sold on democrats”
Congress is more of a power bottom these days.
I called my representative today and asked the gal on the phone that question.
GOP has abdicated everything to Trump. We have taxation and no representation. Trump’s regime has become the very Deep State swamp the MAGAts harped about.
He really can do anything because the GOP congress just lets him, and the Supreme Court courtesy of the shadow docket nearly always sides with him.
Sure it does…to enrich members of the ruling party and to give Mr. Trump’s policies the illusion of legitimacy.
I studied history and geopolitics at Berkeley:
Trump already burned his Reichstag down by enabling Mike Johnson to let the powers of congress desiccate before our eyes.
If you don’t know what that means — Hitler dismantled Germany’s legislature before invading countries like Czechoslovakia/Venezuela and Poland/Greenland.
Citizens United has successfully disemboweled our once great democracy. We are now a dictatorship.
After the 100th person points out that my home is on fire, do I really need a 101st? No, I need someone to grab a fucking hose.
Congress wasn’t notified but Trump has stated he talked to oil executives ‘BEFORE and after the operation’ to prepare them to move into Venezuela. Yup, he told oil execs about the operation before it happened.
I wish the congress and house was entirely replaced with people under 40 and stock trading by politicians was illegal.
*blinks*
🙁
They exist as much as the Russian Duma or China’s National People’s Congress exist.
“I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything about that” -mike johnson
The Republicans have completely forfeited their relevancy to give Johnson all their power, who obviously is a completely shameless Yes Man to Trump.
The Democrats are useless as they’re divided between dinosaurs who still think this is a game that’ll swing back for their turn, Israel-controlled centrists, and a handful of progressives that are continually stifled by the others.
The Republican Party is the single greatest threat America has ever faced
Reminder that the GOP holds the majority in both houses.
The pressure point is not the Dems this time, but the Republicans who may be able to make the calculation that they won’t get votes back in if they keep fucking around.
This means relentlessly calling, emailing, mailing, and picketing at local Republican offices.
Functionally? No.
No.
No.
Not when the GOP controls it. They have given away power to their dementia-addled Caesar.
No. My senator and Rep both don’t respond to calls or emails. Brian Fitzpatrick, you’re a cuck. Fetterman, go to hell
For purposes of collecting a paycheck and reviewing information to help guide their insider trading?
Yes
For everything else?
No
I’m honestly more mad at congress than I am Trump at this point.
We all know Trump is a deranged lunatic. Where tf is Congress? Do your job. Or anything at all really.
The World: Dudes, fucking do something!?!?!! Actual fucking government sponsored nazis are killing people.
GOP: LOL nope!
Mike Johnson is actively helping to destroy the country.
In name only.
No
The truth is that Americans on all sides have been standing by while the Executive Branch has become increasingly overpowered for decades. People like Dan Carlin have been warning about this since at least the 90s.
Giving unprecedented power to a Democratic president also gives that power to any Republican president who comes later, and vice versa. But Americans have been shortsighted on this.
They have stood by while their own checks and balances have been eroded, and this basically made it inevitable that eventually some narcissistic tyrant would come to power and exploit the fact that the checks and balances had been reduced to an honour system.
And here we are: man utterly without honour is now at the head of that honour system. And now my country is in jeopardy because of it. I am angry at every single American old enough to vote. But I’m a whole lot more angry at some than others.
Trump already has justified ICE killing American citizens and has openly defended them stating she was a radical leftist.
As a reminder, the normal response would’ve been a full investigation and holding those accountable to the rule of law.
What he has done is implicitly allowed ICE to continue murdering Americans as they see fit. If you get in their way, you’re a radical leftist and they can now kill you. Meanwhile Trump will ensure that they will not be held accountable.
This is the brown shirt playbook and how nazis rose to power.
They voted to protect the guy who sent a crowd to kill them to stop the election because they weren’t killed
They literally rubber stamped the end of our nation
No, not in any way that matters. It’s now just another grift.
Wake up, it’s no longer a republic, you are now living under a fascist dictatorship. Either you’re filthy rich and therefore priviledged, hardcore MAGA to be milked by the rich until you die of a completely preventable illness (or wake up to what’s realky going on), or you’re an enemy of the state i.e. ‘domestic terrorist’.
Which are you?
It exists in so far as they collect their cheques and benefits every month.
It does not exist when it comes to doing their constitutionally mandated jobs.
The purpose of congress is to be filled with just enough people that don’t do shit so the the dictator can do what he wants.
Funny how “the greatest democracy ever” collapses like a cheap cinematic universe the moment Trump stops reading from the script.
Signs point to No
Only to collect paychecks and insider trading information.
Remember when one of them was in a nursing home for 6 months and no one even knew or cared. …Because that’s how little the US congress does now.
They’re still on Mike Johnson’s extended Grindr holiday. Priorities matter.
~~Congress will stop a rogue President.~~
~~The Supreme Court will stop a rogue President.~~
~~The army won’t follow a rogue President’s orders.~~
???
As a citizen of a country that the United States officially threatens, it is beyond my imagination how your nation can descend into such a deep abyss so quickly.
And you do nothing. Your representatives just sit on their hands.
Our relationship with the United States will never be the same again. It’s like watching your dear old grandmother crumble before your eyes.
Once the “leader of the free world” – never again!
No lol finally someone is talking about it.
Congress died when the Republicans decided that their only legislative goal was to block Obama. They decided then that their loyalty was to their party, not America.