Rand Paul Warns of “Warmongers,” but MAGA Rejects Venezuela War Powers Bill

A push to block Donald Trump from making war on Venezuela fell short in the Senate on Thursday when nearly every Republican sided with the White House Advocates for the war powers resolution sought to cast it as an embodiment of MAGA non-interventionism in a bid to sway Republican senators The GOP however largely lined up behind Trump instead as he mulls attacking Venezuela For decades the globalists in Washington have led our country into one disastrous foreign war after another Senators voted - against the resolution dooming it even as a U S aircraft carrier sailed toward the Caribbean The resolution would have faced long odds even if it had passed since Trump could have vetoed it as he did in in the face of a measure blocking him from supporting Saudi Arabia s war in Yemen Using language drawn from the MAGA lexicon Sen Rand Paul R-Ky the lone Republican co-sponsor of the measure demanded his colleagues on the Senate floor to block the prospective strikes For decades the globalists in Washington have led our country into one disastrous foreign war after another whether in Afghanistan Iraq Libya Syria and now Venezuela Paul noted The warmongers have recycled these experiments in regime change again and again and what has it brought Instability chaos suffering and resentment It is the height of arrogance to think we can forcibly remove the dictatorship in Venezuela and expect a different impact The sole Republican to vote in favor of the resolution with him was Sen Lisa Murkowski of Alaska Sen John Fetterman of Pennsylvania who last month was the sole Democrat to vote against a different war powers resolution aimed at blocking strikes on alleged drug boats flipped to vote with the rest of his caucus on Thursday Ahead of the vote Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch R-Idaho tried to rally Republican opposition to the war powers bill by noting that the White House had issued a announcement against the resolution President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics he disclosed As commander-in-chief the president sees a group of terrorists planning to harm America or our allies he has the right and not only the right but the duty to do something about it Sen Tim Kaine D-Va explained that while Risch s comments focused on Trump s on attacks at sea the resolution up for a vote Thursday was about attacks on Venezuelan land This is about the prospect openly discussed by the president for a land invasion of the sovereign nation of Venezuela The president has not asserted a rationale for it he commented The vote came amid reports that several Republican lawmakers are not satisfied with the administration s justification for its strikes on alleged drug boats On Wednesday top administration personnel attempted to assure members of Congress in a briefing that they had no immediate plans to attack Venezuela although they did not rule out strikes either according to a CNN assessment Trump has not openly committed to attacking Venezuela but according to multiple reports he is considering military force aimed at destabilizing President Nicol s Maduro Strikes on Venezuelan territory itself would represent a dramatic escalation from the U S military s extrajudicial killings of alleged drug trafficking boat crew members in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean which so far have claimed at least lives Ahead of the vote advocacy groups sought to convince GOP senators that the war powers resolution reflected Trump s oft-stated hostility toward nation-building and regime change The post Rand Paul Warns of Warmongers but MAGA Rejects Venezuela War Powers Bill appeared first on The Intercept