Friends,

Gary Krenz is right in his most recent post “We”. We face a truly dangerous crisis in our country because of the impetuous, irrational, and narcissistic decisions being made by Donald Trump. At the moment the most volatile of these crises is the threat of the use of military force against our neighbors (for example, Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, and Greenland). Given that Trump acts without regard to law or consequence, none of these actions can be considered unlikely.

I wonder if any of us can think of effective ways of waking up the Congress to the growing catastrophe that Trump is creating — in this case, for the collapse of alliances with trusted allies, for any sense of legitimacy about the motivations of the US government, and for the reputation of the US as a responsible member of the nations of the world? Trump has said what he would like to do in the coming months in terms of “remaking” the western hemisphere; it is up to us to find ways of saying “No! We will not wage war indiscriminately to complete Donald Trump’s incoherent dreams of imperial supremacy!”.

At the moment, the strongest possible form of resistance against reckless use of military force and renewed acts of capricious warfare, lies in the US Congress. Our senators and congressmen and women must stand up and take action to ensure that more military attacks (acts of war) will not occur due to the impetuous whims of our president.

I’ve sent a letter to Senators Slotkin and Peters and Congresswoman Dingell urging action. Here is the text of my letter.

Dear [elected official], I am writing to you with a sense of very great urgency. The attack against Venezuela a week ago undertaken by the Trump government was a violation of the United Nations Charter, a violation of US law, and a gesture of complete lawlessness and contempt towards our own Congress — the voice of the American people. Trump is now making threats of the use of military force against other countries in the hemisphere, including Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, and Greenland. Trump’s unhinged impulsiveness and the unthinking bellicosity of his administration make these threats highly dangerous. Even some of the closest allies of the United States have condemned the invasion of Venezuela as unjustified under international law and a violation of the non-aggression clause of the United Nations Charter. The fig leaf that this was a “law enforcement operation” is fundamentally unsupportable. Lethal force was used, at least 80 persons were killed in Venezuela during the action, and the seizure of the sitting president of Venezuela has no legal justification whatsoever.

It is pressingly urgent for the US Senate and House to take decisive action to prevent other acts of war in the coming weeks and months. The War Powers Act should be applied and strengthened, and the exclusive authority of the Congress to declare war should be asserted. The United States is now in the position of an outlaw nation, following the lead of Vladimir Putin in his attempt to seize Ukraine and likely encouraging China to take military action against Taiwan.

The brakes must be applied now. We face a current and pressing emergency. No president should be free to create conditions of war against other nations without powerful legal justification, and Trump’s actions have no such justification.

Please devote your considerable powers of persuasion to bring Democrat colleagues and those Republican elected officials who will still respond to rational and principled argument, into strong opposition to Trump’s reckless use of American military power.

Sincerely, Daniel Little, retired professor, University of Michigan-Dearborn and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor