Note: On Saturday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) was hospitalized after experiencing a stroke. According to his office, “He was transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment. The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery.” We join in wishing him a speedy and complete recovery.
Should Democrats win control of even one house of Congress (and both is increasingly likely), the most urgent issue will be to head off resumption of the illegal, reckless, and fruitless Iran war. Donald Trump has been itching to resume his unilateral war, insistent that with just one more round (just a short one!) of random destruction, he can “win.” There is zero evidence that additional military action (let alone one advertised in advance as brief) will force Iran to release its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and/or topple the regime. It therefore remains a mystery what plan could produce a result that anyone other than a deluded, addled president would consider victory. (Besides, he keeps saying we already won, so why is further action required?!)
According to news reports, Trump, ominously, received an in-person briefing last week on the resumption of active military operations from Adm. Brad Cooper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine. Meanwhile, the potential that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who egged Trump on to fight a preposterous regime-change war and sees his own legacy as tied to the (impossible) attainment of that goal — will remain in power after the inconclusive Israeli elections increases the likelihood for another joint operation.
The prospect of further war — never authorized by Congress (and opposed in multiple War Powers Act votes), overwhelmingly unpopular with voters, and likely to deepen the energy crisis and inflationary spiral — should alarm all Americans. And how Trump intends to wage this fiasco should be even more alarming.
Speaking at the Middle East Institute last week, Sen. Murphy, fresh from a visit to the region, told the audience, “I think we are seeing the president ready another devastating military campaign after the election, just as illegal as the first iteration was at a time where Americans are fed up with this war.” Denied access to damaged bases, he reported on “a cover-up that is underway — a dizzying and coordinated attempt to try to hide from the American people and from Congress the costs and the consequences of this war.” Most frightfully, he warned:
In one of these briefings, we did get the chance to have a fairly detailed conversation about what the war plan would be if we restarted military operations. You’ve heard a preview that it would be a short-duration plan. I will just say this: their plan is insane. It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law. … There’s been open reporting as to what we may be planning and the civilian infrastructure that we may be targeting. They’ve been asked by the President to develop a plan. Whether they believe it will work or not, I do not know. But the plan that they have developed will lead, in my view, to a prolongation and an escalation of this war that will be devastating for our security interests.
We do not know if that is the plan about which Trump was briefed last week, but we do know that any military action absent congressional authorization would be unconstitutional, further deplete our munitions (already critically low), endanger our troops at bases we are apparently unable to defend, kill and injure more people (including civilians, about whom the Trump regime has shown shockingly little regard), cause further physical destruction in the region, imperil our regional allies (whose oil facilities we are also unable to protect), and ultimately reinforce the image of the United States as a hapless, weakened oaf toddling around the region, unable to defeat a second-tier power. Should Trump order our military to engage in massive war crimes, he would imperil them personally and further erode the standing of the U.S. military (which has already alienated allies because of its extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean).
As Murphy made clear, “this is the textbook illegal war.” He explained, “They are fighting a war without congressional authorization. They haven’t sought congressional authorization. There hasn’t been a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee.” He added that “it is also clearly in contravention of international law and commitments that we have made to the rule of law to deliberately target civilians and to use the harm or potential harm of civilians as leverage in war. And it is also violative of commitments we have made to target political leadership at scale.”
The first order of business for lawmakers after the election therefore should be a vote to bar further offensive action against Iran, deprive the Trump administration of any funding for this outrageous gambit, and make crystal clear that anyone engaged in this illegal escapade — up to and including the president — will be held fully accountable to the greatest extent of the law (be that impeachment, prosecution for war crimes, court martial for senior brass, etc.).
Will Congress act, either before or after the new Congress is sworn in? Well, we will find out. Even if Democrats are outvoted on a party-line vote before January, their unity on these items is essential to make clear what will transpire as soon as new legislators are sworn in on January 3. Going on record unanimously may slow down military action, encourage Gulf allies to push back against Trump, and give military leaders additional arguments to dissuade Trump from acting.
It would be unfathomable for Democrats not to try to mount a furious effort to stop the resumption of the war. “We become an illegitimate body, especially with respect to our foreign policy powers, if we do not use our spending power to end the war,” Murphy reminded us. “The president has ignored the Constitution and ignored us. He has gone to war repeatedly in the Middle East, illegally, without congressional authorization.” He added, “The natural consequence of that should be for the Congress to deny funding for the war if you are not prepared to come to us and get authorization.”
Murphy is right that it is Congress’s “sacred responsibility as a co-equal branch to use the spending power to end the war.” And it is the sacred obligation of democratic citizens, whose obligations do not end with casting of ballots, to hold elected leaders to the promises they made and to abide by the unequivocal mandate of the American people to end the war.
Mass, peaceful protest may be required to bolster Democratic opposition. No Democratic lawmaker, whether just elected or considering future runs, should expect to hold power if he or she cannot wield the most consequential powers in Article I: the powers to declare war and to make appropriations. No Democrat serious about running for president in 2028 can remain on the sidelines.
The election is tomorrow, but the most fateful decisions for the country, for the Middle East, and for the international world order will come after the votes are counted.
