On Mike Lee and the co-equal branches of government

Yesterday, the Trump regime gave a briefing to both chambers of Congress as to the rationale behind its execution of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, which has done nothing but destabilize an already-fragile region.

Of course, Democrats in both chambers found the presentation unconvincing. Even Representative Tulsi Gabbard came away saying that there was no case made for the imminent threat which Soleimani supposedly posed.

But this wasn't just a partisan affair.

Here is Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee responding in the Capitol to the briefing.

Now, to say this is stunning would be an understatement. No Republican in Washington has offered more than milquetoast condemnation of Donald Trump since he was inaugurated into office. Kids in  cages? Nothing. Muslims banned from coming to the US? Nothing. Every excess perpetrated by Trump and this regime, whether actual or rhetorical, has been met with, at most, mild disapproval, and most often by fervid assent.

But some wire seems to have been tripped by this entire farcical, avoidable, and dangerous escapade.

No, Mike Lee (and Rand Paul) won't become Heroes of the Resistance. But if two of the most conservative senators—and normally staunch Trump allies—are excoriating Trump over his misadventure, this is a significant development. Lee says he will now sign on to the Democrats' War Powers resolution to rein in the regime from further acts of aggression without Congressional approval. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring forward the House of Representatives' resolution today.

What does this all mean? Why are we seeing fissures in an up-until-now solid red wall in the Senate?

Well, let's not get ahead of  ourselves. Stamping your feet and shaking your fist in front of the cameras is one thing; actually acting on your expressed anger is another. And if we've learned nothing from the past three years it's that Republicans are supine lickspittles to this regime.

But for now, both Lee and Paul are saying that they will support the war powers resolution Democrats in the Senate are putting forth. That in itself is seismic in these times. The bill's sponsors need just two more Republicans to break ranks to pass it. Will they get them?

Lindsey "Lickspittle" Graham is telling Lee and Paul to calm down, and that they're giving comfort to "the enemy". Whether he means Iran or Chuck Schumer is difficult to discern. That's to be expected. Graham is a lost cause, a beta cuck latching on to men he perceives as alphas to give his life meaning. He has no interest in exerting his status as a member of a co-equal branch of government.

But could we be seeing a break in Republicans finally being unable to defend an  incompetent regime headed by an impulsive, senile moron? Again, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The proof is in the pudding. And Lee and Paul are from the anti-interventionist wing of the GOP, which meets in a broom closet. At the same time that they are fulminating against the Soleimani assassination, they also are agreeing to back Mitch McConnell's impeachment trial strategy. If they were really concerned about an erratic soi disant president, they'd back a real trial. But we must take comfort from whence we get it.

If Congress is ever to reassert its Article I status as the first of the branches of government, curbing the imperial presidency's war-making powers has to be the first step. The Founders didn't envision a president as king, with the ability to dispatch troops all over the globe with no accountability. The War Powers Act was a feeble attempt to rein in an overweening executive, when the real power which Congress has is written right there in the Constitution: the power to declare war, and the power of the purse. But the US has become such a militarized state that funding the military is sacrosanct, while Congress doesn't want to go on record as declaring war. Ever since the atom bomb changed questions of war and peace irrevocably, Congresses have seen fit to allow the executive broad leeway to wage war without Congressional writ. It's how we got Vietnam. It's how we are where we are now.

Constant war destroys democracy. If we are to save it, one of the things we have to do is to put decisions of war and peace back where they belong: on Capitol Hill. At least for right now, Mike Lee and Rand Paul are trying to remind their GOP colleagues of their roles in our democracy. We'll see if they listen.

UPDATE
Well, as if things couldn't get weirder:

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a close ally of President Donald Trump’s, will vote against his friend having power to go to war without Congress.

“Killing Soleimani was the right decision,” he said, according to a Bloomberg reporter.

However, he doesn’t agree with getting into a prolonged war in the Middle East. It’s a sentiment that Trump once shared when running for president in 2016. Gaetz said is the “wrong decision.”

I can't stress enough how big this is. Gaetz is one of the dumbest people in Congress, outclassed only by Louie GOHMERT. And even he wants nothing of a war against a country which could do actual damage to both US soldiers and standing.

Trump thought he was going to get a bounce from his assassination and saber-rattling. Instead, some of his most loyal sycophants are having enough.