The problem, in this case, isn’t Trump defying the law, it’s that there are far too many legal ways for him to get away with this shit.

Since 1974, when Congress got their shit together enough to pass the War Powers Resolution with a veto proof majority, they’ve basically been constantly ceding war powers back to the president through open ended Authorizations for Use of Military Force, with no expiry and unbelievably vague terms. Biden, for example, cited the 2002 AUMF for his military actions.

Until Congress actually gets together and undoes that mess - which, to my understanding, will once again require a veto proof majority - presidents will basically be free to do as they please with the military.

So, remember that whole thing about how “Nazi” is short for “National Socialist” (in German), but they weren’t actually socialist, they just called themselves that because it was popular with the working class at the time?

Yeah, this is exactly how that worked. Their philosophies were openly and explicitly fascist, but every now and then they would steal a popular move from a socialist playbook to keep the voters happy, while they continued to strip away freedoms and militarize their populace and economy.

This is, legitimately, a fantastic idea. Everyone should be doing it. It doesn’t even remotely solve the problem of inflated home prices, but it would help, and the fact that just the proposal alone knocked 10% off Blackstone’s share price is all the proof you need of that. But it’s the kind of good idea that fascists roll out when they really need you to shut up sit down like good little piggies while they get on with covering up what Trump was doing with Epstein, murdering innocent civilians, and expanding the new American Empire.

Do I believe he’ll actually go through with it? On balance, probably not. But that’s really not the part you should be focused on right now.

If y’all don’t do something about it, it certainly will.

It’s starting to look an awful lot like waiting for the midterms is not an option.

This is exactly it. They don’t want witnesses who could attest to awkward facts like there not actually being drugs on the boats.

Remember, if these were really drug boats the US would be boarding them, siezing the drugs and proudly showing them off like cops always do after any bust.

But then, if any of this was actually about drugs, we wouldn’t suddenly be hearing Trump talk non stop about taking over Venezuela’s oil industry.

I’m really not clear on how you imagine those EU defense agreements would hold up if the NATO defence agreements don’t.

“Please help us, Greenland is under attack!”

“Uh, no, sorry, none of us are willing to go to war with the US.”

“OK, but what if we repeat the exact same request, but with EU letterhead instead of NATO?”

“Oh well why the fuck didn’t you say so? Our fleets are already on the way!”

No, it wouldn’t. Not unless we end up with a world war.

Trump attacking Greenland triggers article 5. Denmark calls for NATO to support them against this act of aggression.

Either NATO steps up and together counters the US, or they collectively pussy out, and from there on every member knows that the alliance is a paper tiger. A promise on paper that means nothing in practice. And Putin immediately invades the Baltics.

The only version of this where NATO survives without a war is one where the alliance is able to strongarm Trump into backing down from an invasion by threatening war, without actually having to go through with it. But if we’ve reached the point of the US actually invading a NATO member, I really don’t see “backing down” being in the cards.

Be nice if Americans had their shit together enough that the rest of the world didn’t have to deal with this in the first place. But no, the electorate of the most powerful country on earth are a bunch of squealing idiot children, and now that’s everyone else’s problem to fix.

Hey, hey now, listen, don’t worry your silly head about that. Look, the US just illegally kidnapped a head of state. Isn’t that exciting? Go focus on that hot new story, don’t worry about this old nonsense.

Incredibly cowardly of AP to not point out that Kelly literally did nothing wrong here. Reminding people that they have to follow the law cannot, ever, under any circumstances, be considered illegal, unless it was somehow being done for purposes of coercion or intimidation. Just saying “You are required to follow the law” is the literal opposite of illegal. Trump calling that “sedition” is an open admission that his administration wants and intends to violate the law at every turn. Otherwise how could it possibly be an attack on the government’s authority?

I’m sorry, are we spending too much time talking about the rogue state with a fascist government, the world’s largest military, and a proven willingness to violate every international law and norm, that is currently threatening the safety of the entire planet?

This. No reason for the rest of us to give up just because they have. We’ll do it without them if we have to.

As far as I can tell, they genuinely do not have anything approaching a real plan here.

Best guess is that, as a would be dictator himself, Trump has so thoroughly bought into his own strongman hype that he actually does believe that’s how governments work. L’etat c’est moi. He seems to truly think that removing Maduro is the same thing as removing the government, and that by some kind of fucking boardgame-ass logic that means they’re now in charge.

America is already the gold standard for failing at regime changes, but this is truly their finest work yet.

Cuba is next. Then Columbia, Mexico and Greenland. Canada is pretty far down the list. Not saying we shouldn’t be taking this threat as being absolutely deadly serious, just trying to be realistic about how things are going to play out.

The good news for us - and only for us - is that they’re probably going to end up in such a deep quagmire in Venezuela that they maybe make it through one or two more of those countries before they stall out completely. Trump has not succeeded in putting the US public on a war footing the way Hitler did in Germany. By and large, MAGA are pretty skeptical of the idea that a war is going to make their groceries cheaper. They want to kick out all the foreigners, not waste money and lives “fixing” their countries for them. There is no lebensraum mandate in the hearts of present day Americans, no matter how much Trump waves around the Munro Doctrine.

Oh, yeah, no question that’s the plan, insofar as there is one.

They did fucking WHAT??!

You know what, I wrote a reply here, but I’m replacing it with this because there’s just no point. You’re still trying to argue that a potential invasion executed by a military with over 2,000,000 active and reserve personnel would so badly need a couple of thousand extra bodies that that alone would force Trump to put an end to his dictatorial cock waving in Democrat voting cities.

There’s a lot more I could go into here, but if you’re not already looking at the scale difference in those numbers and reflexively laughing at the ridiculousness of your own argument, nothing I or anyone else says is going to make a difference. You’re too far up your own arse to waste the breath on.

Wait, are you… Are you actually serious right now?

You think that an article saying the US military missed its yearly recruitment goal by 25% is proof that they need to recall the National Guard from Chicago in order to have the capacity to invade Venezuela?

Did you spend more than 10 seconds looking at the numbers before posting this nonsense?

They fell short of their yearly recruitment target by about 12,000 personnel. Between active duty and reserve forces, the total size of the US military is over 2 million. And there is absolutely no scenario where you would ever use a national guard unit in the initial wave of an invasion. (correcting myself on this point; the US did draw up National Guard units as part of the Iraq invasion, though as best I can tell their role was almost entirely restricted to support, logistics, and rear line security, not frontline combat. Still, those are essential components of any successful military operation and I’m sure they made significant contributions there.).

The US Marine Corps, on its own, is ~170k personnel. The entire Venezuelan military, across all branches, is estimated at around 337k personnel.

But no, please, do explain how the 800 national guard troops deployed to DC are absolutely vital to the success of a potential invasion.

If you think he needs to pull back the national guard to handle an invasion, you seriously underestimate how grotesquely oversized the US military is.

Having a dog boosts everyone’s mental health. Unfortunately, having a dog is only possible for people with the right living conditions, free time and disposable income. Like so much in our society, the things that make us healthier, happier people are unavailable to the people that need them most.

Oh, perfect. Thank you.