The Trump administration must be held accountable for its latest act of international criminality. To kidnap the president of Venezuela and his wife is completely illegal and reckless. There is no formal state of war between the two nations, only Trump’s phony rhetoric of a “war on drugs”. The murders of boat crews in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific are an ongoing series of criminal acts by the United States, and this military action to kidnap Venezuela’s president is fundamentally illegal as well. It is an expression of the arbitrary impulse of the president of the United States, not a legally supported action taken within the context of a congressional authorization. Trump treats the armed forces of the United States as Vito Corleone treated the armed gangs under his control: the basis of a personal fiefdom. Can any head of state in the western hemisphere feel safe after this act? What limits does the Trump regime actually recognize in the use of US military force? The answer seems to be: none.

Where is appeal to international institutions in all of this? If the US government has legal claims against Nicolás Maduro it should make them in international courts and have the support of international judicial processes on its side. This was the approach taken by the Bush administration in its struggle against Saddam Hussein. But Trump cannot do this because he has shown unrelenting contempt for those very same institutions, including the United Nations. Given how indifferent he is to the rule of law, he prefers unilateral action.

Congress, you must reassert your authority and responsibility concerning the exercise of war powers by the executive branch. Reassert the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and demand compliance by this reckless regime.