WASHINGTON DC – It’s been almost a year and a half since Donald Trump’s second term began, and for the first time since he took back the Oval Office, Republican-controlled Congress has seemingly located enough spine to try to hold him to account.
In the most potent rebuke of his presidency to date, four House Republicans crossed party lines and joined Democrats on Wednesday to call time on Trump’s war on Iran. It was the fourth attempt by the House to rein in Trump’s war powers, and the first to succeed.
The vote aims to force the President to make a choice: either order a full military withdrawal or seek Congressional backing to wage a war that the White House insists is already over. The final vote was 215 – 208, a humiliating defeat that creates complications for Trump as he urgently seeks an offramp from a conflict that is threatening to engulf his presidency.
Shorts
At a moment when Iran has brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz to a standstill – sparked global economic instability – and is frustrating Trump’s efforts to strongarm it into a ceasefire deal on his terms, we are seeing the impact in the US, where lawmakers are fighting to save their own hides in November’s midterm elections.
