In a moment demanding moral clarity and constitutional courage, the Democratic Party chose caution. Again.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to table a resolution that would have launched impeachment proceedings against President Trump over his unauthorised bombing of Iran – a military action taken without congressional approval, in violation of the War Powers Resolution and with no clear strategy or endgame.
It was a moment tailor-made for accountability. Yet 344 members, including the vast majority of House Democrats, voted to shut it down.
The resolution, led by Rep. Al Green, wasn’t some radical gesture. It was a sober response to a commander-in-chief who has repeatedly demonstrated contempt for democratic norms, the Constitution, and international law. It was a plea to uphold the most basic function of Congress: to check an out-of-control executive. And still, they folded.
The Democrats ran on restoring the rule of law. They said they’d hold power to account. Now, faced with a president who has already been impeached twice and is acting with growing impunity, they’ve chosen to duck rather than lead.
This isn’t just disappointing – it’s dangerous.
By failing to act, Democrats signal that there are no consequences for illegal war-making. No limits to presidential power. No red lines that can’t be erased in the name of political expediency.
It also hands Trump another victory – one he’ll use to his advantage. He can now claim bipartisan backing for his aggression, further emboldening him to act unilaterally both abroad and at home.
There was a time when the Democratic Party knew how to fight. When it stood up for checks and balances, for international law, for diplomacy over destruction. But those instincts seem lost – replaced by fear, calculation, and the false comfort of the political middle ground.
And voters would be noticing.
The people who put Democrats in office didn’t do so to watch them flinch in the face of authoritarianism. They expected resistance. What they got was retreat.
Until the party remembers what it stands for, and who it stands against, it will continue to lose not just battles – but the faith of those it claims to represent.
Dear reader, we need your support
Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
The Democrats are challenged by a RW MSM cartel in the US, ditto similar in Oz, UK, Hungary and Turkey, then the ‘elephant in the room’.
Bulwark’s Tim Miller and Bill Kristol have highlighted ie. too many centrist voters did not vote and too many Americans have become disengaged and passive, by design?
On the latter, Kristol cited Neil Postman’s ’80s ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ where anyone nowadays can choose their media rabbit hole; while many educated Americans have too many gaps in their knowledge to the point of abject ignorance (many Australians are not far behind).
Wiki on Postman ‘The book’s origins are rooted in a talk Postman gave to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1984, in which he was a participant in a panel on George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and the contemporary world. In the introduction to Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, rather than by Orwell’s work, where they were oppressed by state violence.’
NO-ONE trifles the US Zio Lobby!!
And look how soft English and Oz Labor are. In the ned, it is only oil and trade routes.
Which reminds me. What a shock, the validation of Antoinette Lattouf today. Things are now dragged on forever through expensive courts, but this time the slap-suit didn’t work.