3 things can stop the sprawling 'Republican disaster': political analyst

As President Donald Trump’s war with Iran drags on and the midterms approach, a leading political analyst explained on Wednesday that there are three key things that must be done to stop the ongoing “Republican disaster” — and they may result in Trump’s impeachment. This is according to veteran political journalist Jennifer Rubin, who laid out a game plan for the president’s opponents should the GOP take the dramatic losses that are projected for the upcoming elections.

As Rubin writes, “As disastrous as Donald Trump’s domestic policies have been — e.g., tariffs, slashing SNAP and healthcare, unleashing rogue shock troops that kill Americans on our streets, corrupting the Justice Department, dismantling life-saving government functions — Iran may be the longest-lasting calamity of his presidency, one that subsequent presidents will be hard-pressed to reverse.” According to Rubin, it’s become obvious that “no clear military solution exists,” and now it appears almost certain that the Iranian regime will emerge from the conflict with significantly greater power, while the U.S has been diminished and achieved none of its purported goals. With all this in mind, writes Rubin, “Trump, his utterly incompetent secretaries of state and defense, and Republican cheerleaders for the war (plus the cadre of right-wing pundits who celebrated the Iran War and kept insisting progress was possible) must bear the blame for a catastrophic outcome.”

She emphasizes that the wider GOP, not just Trump, is responsible, writing, “Republicans put unfit, unhinged Pete Hegseth in office and refused to exercise oversight. Republicans gave Trump a blank check. Republicans continue to throw money at a mismanaged, dysfunctional Pentagon, which refuses to conduct an after-action investigation on potential war crimes or accurately account for the injured and dead. The Iran war disaster is a Republican disaster, one that should disqualify the party from holding power.” With the midterms looming, she says that “Democrats would be wise to pursue three responses as they attempt to hold the Trump regime accountable and reverse the horrendous cost to America.”

“First,” writes Rubin, “once they have control of one or both houses, Democrats must end funding for the illegal war. Full stop. Spending more U.S. taxpayers’ dollars, continuing to divert assets from other parts of the world, risking more lives, and adding to the cost of humanitarian, military, and economic reconstruction would compound the Republican debacle.”

“Second,” she continues, “serious, exhaustive hearings on the conduct of the war akin to the Fulbright hearings that exposed the lies, duplicity, and blunders associated with the Vietnam War are essential. That entails calling active and retired military personnel to testify under oath, and drawing on bipartisan expertise from prior administrations (including the first Trump term). It will be up to Congress to explain how Trump blundered into war, misled the country, mismanaged the war, and then botched post-hostility negotiations (about which Trump continually lies). Its findings may, in some cases, justify impeachment or criminal referrals for perjury.”

“Third,” she asserts, “if nothing else, Trump’s Iran disaster should prompt a complete revision of the War Powers Act. Given that the Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war, it is time to reverse the trend to bestow the president with unilateral control over hard power. After a brief time for the commander in chief to deploy troops in cases of national emergency, Congress’s failure to authorize ongoing deployment and to fund operations should end any military engagement. No further vote should be needed; no joint resolution or presidential sign-off should be required. With that rule in place, the president would be much less inclined to unilaterally drag us into war without congressional consultation or even public debate.”

Rubin concludes by urging voters to “hold those responsible for one of the worst foreign policy blunders in modern American history accountable for the damage they have caused.” Should the midterms go their way, she concludes, “Democrats must grab the opportunity to rejigger the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches and stop spending money and resources in the Middle East in ways that offend our deepest-held values, achieve no tangible benefits, and result in one disastrous war after another.”