How Hawkish Democrats, from Schumer to Harris, Paved the Way for War with Iran: Stephen Zunes [View all]

The Senate on Wednesday rejected another bid to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to use further military force against Iran, marking the fifth failed attempt by Democrats to curb Trump’s war powers since the start of the conflict in late February. The resolution was defeated in a vote of 46 to 51, with Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Rand Paul the sole dissenters in each caucus. The administration is facing a deadline of May 1 before it must seek explicit authorization from Congress for military force under the War Powers Act.

While Democrats have opposed Trump’s military actions, they have done so largely on “procedural grounds” without making a forceful moral case against war, says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco. “The climate that the Democrats have helped lay in these 20 years of hawkish statements and resolutions and the like really made Trump’s job easier and has enabled him to, thus far, get away with it,” says Zunes.