Hypocrites Suddenly Claim ‘Constitutional Scruples’ About War-Making

        Even Americans who loathe President Donald Trump should be capable of seeing that the U.S. and the world are safer without a nuclear-capable Iran. But Trump derangement is blinding them.

        Saturday night, Trump and the U.S. military executed a “spectacularly successful” precision bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities with no American casualties and minimal impact on Iran’s people.

        Yet now Trump is being bombarded with attacks here at home. Sen. Bernie Sanders ((I-Vt.) called Trump’s strike “grossly unconstitutional,” a claim repeated by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has sparred with Trump on other issues, and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).

        New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a chorus of Democrats are calling for Trump’s impeachment.

        Even New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidates — for whom Trump hatred is a litmus test — are piling on. Zohran Mamdani blasted Trump’s “unconstitutional military action,” and Brad Lander slammed the president’s “reckless & unconstitutional strikes.”

        These claims are crazy. Prior presidents, including Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, struck foreign targets without consulting Congress first and even waged hostilities for months at a time without authorization from Congress. No one called for their impeachment.

        Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who defended Obama’s military operations in Libya without congressional authorization when she was House minority leader, slammed Trump, saying he “ignored the Constitution.” Call her the queen of hypocrisy.

        As for “ignoring the Constitution,” that’s simply false. Article II states “The President shall be Commander in Chief.” Trump clearly acted within his Article II powers.

        True, Article I gives Congress power to declare war, but war hasn’t been declared since WWII. Yet the U.S. has waged at least 125 military operations since then. Declarations of war are an anachronism.

        The Constitution contains a built-in tension between the branches over when to deploy the military. Congress can exert its authority by refusing to fund ongoing military operations it opposes. Congress limited and finally cut off funding for combat in Vietnam, effectively ending the war in response to rising public discontent. Similarly, Congress used its power of the purse to curtail military operations in Angola, Nicaragua and Somalia in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

        War weariness during the prolonged but undeclared Vietnam War led Congress to try to devise another method: the War Powers Resolution of 1973, designed to put guardrails around the president’s conduct of military operations and guarantee Congress’ involvement short of an actual declaration of war.

        But the War Powers Resolution was controversial and ineffective from the minute it was enacted. Invoking it now, after 50 years of failure, is mere political theater.

        Richard Nixon opposed what he called its “dangerous and unconstitutional restrictions” on presidential authority and vetoed it, though Congress overrode his veto.

        Ronald Reagan also insisted that no mere act of Congress could legitimately narrow the military powers the Constitution grants presidents.

        Clinton waived off War Powers Resolution concerns, launching cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998. The following year he defied the resolution to continue bombing in Kosovo. No one talked of impeachment — at least not for that. He was impeached for lovemaking, not making war.

        Fast-forward to Midnight Hammer, the code name for the strike obliterating Iran’s nuclear facilities early on Sunday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom Trump briefed about the strike before it occurred, responded to the barrage of criticism, saying “tonight’s necessary, limited and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”

        All true.

        Massie, a frequent Trump critic, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are pushing a new resolution that would bar any further action against Iran without Congressional approval. Now that the mission has succeeded, let the debate begin. But let’s be clear what the debate is about.

        Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is slamming Trump’s Sunday surprise, insisting that that “no president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war.”

        Schumer’s comment distorts reality. Iran has been waging war against the U.S. for decades. Iran’s leaders chant “death to America.” Iranian proxies have attacked American oil tankers on the high seas, assassinated American troops at a U.S. military post in Jordan, and plotted the assassination of Trump. All with impunity.

        Trump’s strike against Iran’s nuclear capabilities took the cudgel out of the ayatollah’s hands. No matter how Iran responds, the threat will be less now that the bully has been de-nuked.

        Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and founder of SAVENYC @SAVENYC.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.