How Many Senate Republicans Will Stand Up For America In The War Powers Debate?

Never dependable in a pinch

Even after 8 of the worst Democrats in the House-- each of whom absolutely deserves to be defeated for reelection, but is being bolstered by the DCCC-- sided with Trump in a failed attempt defeat the War Powers Resolution, The Hill reported Tuesday morning that there might be "as many as 10 Republican senators" who buck Trump on this crucial approach to constitutional jurisdiction over war and peace. These are the House Democrats who, along with almost every Republican in the House, betrayed the country and their oaths of office:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)

It would have been 9 Democrats, instead of 8, betraying the country, their constituents and the Constitution but DCCC-Blue Dog Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey is now officially a Republican and, of course, voted against the War Powers Resolution as a Republican and dedicated and enthusiastic Trump ass-licker.

The Hill's Alexander Bolton wrote that "The increasing number [10 Republican senators] is the latest sign of growing GOP frustration over the Trump administration’s justification for the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is circulating a bipartisan resolution that would direct Trump to remove U.S. forces from any hostilities against Iran within 30 days of its enactment."

Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) are already publicly somewhat on board-- though Paul has a tendency to run his mouth and roar until vote time and then meekly back Trump. Bolton claims that 8 more Republicans are considering Kaine's resolution and names Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Mitt Romney (R-UT), the 3 obvious ones, and adds Todd Young (R-IN). That leaves 4 unnamed. The Republicans at the greatest electoral risk this year, aside from Collins, are:

• Cory Gardner (R-CO)
• Martha McSally (R-AZ)
• Thom Tillis (R-NC)
• David Perdue (R-GA)
• Joni Ernst (R-IA)
• Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
• Kelly Loeffler (R-GA)

There's an outside shot that John Cornyn (R-TX), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and MoscowMitch (R-KY) could be vulnerable but the lockstep support for Trump from these three goofballs is completely baked into the cake already. When asked how many Republicans are open to his resolution, Kaine told The Hill "Probably about 10. There’s good discussion going on." Lee also mentioned 10 as the number of Republicans open to at least considering it.

Democrats can force a vote on the measure at any time, but Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Monday said a vote will happen later in the week.

Schumer wants to make sure his entire caucus is present, increasing the odds that a vote would be held sometime after Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate in Iowa.

It needs only a simple majority to pass.

If it passes the Senate, the House would also need to pass the resolution before it can be sent to the White House, where Trump would be expected to veto it.

Lee said fellow Republicans should view the Kaine-sponsored resolution as a “completely noncontroversial measure” that restates the Constitution’s declaration that Congress shall have sole power to declare war.

He said it merely spells out that “additional hostilities against Iran need to be authorized by Congress.”

“That is a perfectly unremarkable statement,” Lee added. “The fact that this would be objectionable to anyone in either political party is really saying something.”

Republican senators are suggesting changes to Kaine’s resolutions, which the Democratic senator says can be offered as amendments on the Senate floor.

“I want to make sure that anything I vote on makes clear that the president maintains his Article II prerogatives and also that it does not contain any political content,” Young told reporters Monday, referring to Trump’s constitutional power to respond to attacks or imminent threats.

Kaine has agreed to accept Republican amendments that remove specific reference to Trump or might be construed as forcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from areas where Iranian proxies are present.

...Senators in both parties say a briefing by senior administration officials last week failed to provide a clear legal justification for the U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani.

The murky legal arguments put forth by the administration come on top of an evolving story about whether U.S. personnel in the Middle East faced an imminent threat from Soleimani, as Trump claimed last week when he said Iran and its allies “were looking to blow up our embassy.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday also asserted “an imminent threat,” adding the intelligence included “attacks on U.S. embassies.” He declined to define what exactly he meant by imminent.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper over the weekend told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he “didn’t see” a “specific piece of evidence” that Soleimani was masterminding an attack on as many as four U.S. embassies.

The president pulled back from his initial claim on Monday by arguing that “it doesn’t really matter” whether there was an imminent threat against U.S. personnel and that the strike against Soleimani was justified “because of his horrible past.”

Perdue isn't getting away with his robot-like devotion to Trump-over-country without a spirited retort from at least one of his Democratic opponents. Teresa Tomlinson, the progressive in the Georgia U.S. Senate primary, noted, with gumption, that "Support for the War Powers Act is constitutional not partisan. I urge Senator Perdue to change course and finally put his allegiance to our constitution over his personal allegiance to Donald Trump."

Al Gross is the Independent/Democrat running for the Alaska Senate seat currently held by Trump puppet, Dan Sullivan. This morning, Gross told me that "Dan Sullivan believes in giving the President full war authority-- that's irresponsible. A Senator must serve as a check on, not a rubber stamp for the President. Dan Sullivan shows no leadership because he always puts Republican Party priorities before Alaska's priorities. I'll be a very different kind of Senator."