The War with Iran: Trump 1.0 vs Trump 2.0. Which Version Should We Believe?

Donald Trump 1.0, before his second presidency which began in January, 2025, held a radically different position regarding the United States and potential wars than he (Trump 2.0) has held during the first thirteen months of his second term in the White House.

When President Trump was on the campaign trail in 2015/2016, 2020 and 2024, he repeatedly claimed:

He had always opposed the war in Iraq.
Therefore, he would never lead our country into another “endless” war, especially in the Middle East.
Wars with the goal of achieving regime change were incredibly “naïve, dumb, and reckless”.

During his first presidency, Trump largely kept his promise regarding wars. His second term has been just the opposite. He has ordered military strikes on seven countries around the globe (eight, if we count the attack yesterday on Ecuador). Those nations are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela and Nigeria. He has not asked for nor received Congressional authorization for those military operations (our Constitution gives the Congress the responsibility to declare war).

These facts raise the obvious question: which version should we believe, Trump 1.0 or 2.0? The current war with Iran is particularly difficult because a variety of conflicting goals have been offered by the White House.

Secretary Hegseth affirmed the war was not about “regime change” although he said the “regime has changed” and Trump 2.0 told the Iranian opposition to rise up and take over their government, because “we have your back”.
Trump 2.0 stated a goal was to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile capability, but Trump already “obliterated” their nuclear stockpile in June 2025, right?
Trump 2.0 affirmed another goal was to take out Iran’s current and future leadership. This is a long-term proposal and sure sounds like “regime change” to me.
Trump 2.0 said another goal was to destroy Iran’s navy, although this goal was not even mentioned in the first days of the war.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had a more difficult task. He knows that legally it is Congress that declares “war”. So, although Trump 2.0 and Secretary Hegseth have repeatedly referred to our operations in Iran as “war”, Johnson has called them merely a “military operation” which would not violate the Constitution. This war is war, regardless of Johnson’s semantic tricks. A war by any other name is still a war.

One of the biggest problems is that Trump 2.0 has not even sketched out an “end game”. There are two basic options. Either he leaves a functioning government in place (nation building and boots on the ground) or the US leaves Iran with a leadership vacuum that falls into civil war in the nation and a spiraling out of control war in the region.

A thousand deaths have already taken place in Iran, including more than 150 girls and teachers from an elementary school. Each human being is precious and killing innocent girls is criminal.

Even before he ran for the political office, Trump knew that some presidents launch wars to unite our country in support of a failing presidency. In October 2012, weeks before Obama was re-elected, Trump falsely predicted, “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin — watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate”. Given that Trump’s current approval rate is lower than Obama’s ever was, is Trump’s war in Iran a last-ditch attempt to save the legacy of a failing, desperate president?

How do we square Trump 1.0 with the 2.0 version? It cannot be done. Staunch Trump supporters have become some of his most vocal critics. Tucker Carlson gets the last word about this war: “it is disgusting and evil!”

Trump’s State of the Union Address: Sadly, He Lied to the Nation

President Trump’s State of the Union address last night was full of self-congratulatory praise for himself. Regrettably, it was also full of lies and half-truths. It was equally regrettable to see most of the Republicans rise from their seats and applaud these lies.

Don’t take my word for it. Here are quotes from Trump’s speech last night in contrast with the facts.

Trump said tariffs are “paid for by foreign countries.”

This is a lie that Trump has repeated for over a year. U.S. businesses (think Target and Walmart) pay these tariffs (=import taxes) to the federal government. These businesses pass on a significant portion of these taxes to U.S. consumers through higher prices. No foreign country has paid a penny to the United States in tariff/taxes. In addition, most of these tariffs were struck down as illegal by the Supreme Court last Friday. As a result, most of this tariff money will probably have to be refunded to the importing companies, thus increasing our national debt by billions of dollars.

Trump said, “I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest.”

Although some drugs like Wegovy are a bit cheaper than they were, most drug prices are relatively still quite high and by no means “the lowest price in the world” according to the American Economic Liberties Project.

Trump said, “In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion (of foreign investments) pouring in from all over the globe.”

The $18 trillion figure is pure fiction. The White House’s own website said the figure for “major investment announcements” during this Trump administration was $9.7 trillion,” and even that is a major exaggeration. In October it was discovered that the White House was counting trillions of dollars in vague investment pledges, pledges that were about “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” rather than investment in the US and vague statements that didn’t even rise to the level of pledges.

Trump claimed that “gas prices are “now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places, $1.99 a gallon.”

The truth is that no state had an average gas price on Tuesday below $2.37 per gallon, according to AAA; only two states had an average below $2.50 per gallon.

“No one is so blind as those who choose to believe lies.”

In addition to his many falsehoods, Trump conveniently ignored omitted topics that have been quite negative for his administration. For example, he did not mention the Epstein files, although it was announced yesterday that testimony of his sexual assault against a minor has been deleted. He did not mention the tragic actions of ICE in Minnesota where two U.S. citizens were killed. The war in Ukraine continues and Trump is still getting “played” by Putin.

I am quite aware that not all my readers will like these facts that I have highlighted. If I have been inaccurate, please let me know. Let us continue to strive to walk in the truth.

The Supreme Court Finally Reined In Trump’s Reign. The Court Also Gave Him A Present In Disguise Which He Did Not Accept.

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that was the most significant rebuke to President Trump’s agenda to date: his widespread use of tariffs. By a 6-3 margin (with conservative justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Conan Barrett, and John Roberts joining their more liberal colleagues) the high court claimed that Trump’s sweeping global tariffs issued under a 1977 emergency powers law, did in fact exceed presidential authority. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts said the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, including tariffs, and Trump had not shown there was an emergency that would warrant usurping that authority.

Prior to the ruling, the president has exerted a lot of pressure on the Court and predicted that if the Court ruled against his tariffs, our economy would suffer catastrophic disaster. He had arrogantly lied that the tariffs had ushered in a golden era of U.S. economic dominance and huge revenues were pouring into the U.S. Treasury and were paid for by foreign countries. The truth is that tariffs are true taxes paid by U.S. importers (think Walmart) and then largely passed on to American consumers. “A tax by any other name is still a tax.” Therefore, tariffs are quite unpopular with U.S customers. National polls consistently indicate that 60%-66% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariffs.

Traditionally, Republicans have opposed tax increases. Therefore, most GOP Senators and Representatives do not like the tariffs, but they have not had the courage to publicly go against Trump. The Supreme Court’s ruling was a gift to them, because classifying the tariffs as illegal, these Republicans thought they could avoid the fallout caused by tariff induced inflation. The Supreme Court’s ruling had given the president an easy “off ramp” and many Republicans wanted Trump’s adventurism just to go away. But Trump was too stubborn to just accept this gift in disguise. He blasted the Court and threw a temper tantrum, calling Conan Barrett and Gorsuch fools, disloyal, lap dogs and unpatriotic. Then he downplayed the importance of the high court’s ruling. “Their decision is incorrect,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because we have very powerful alternatives.”

After the ruling was announced, the president pledged to impose a new global ten percent tariff under a law that has never been used to apply to tariffs before. He later increased this percentage to 15% on all nation without any rhyme or reason regarding trade varying trade imbalances. After 150 days, this tariff increase would require an extension to be approved by Congress. Many elected Republican officials are quite anxious about casting their vote on such an unpopular extension because it would negatively affect their chances of winning in the mid-term elections.

The Supreme Court’s ruling left some items unresolved. The court did not decide whether companies could recover billions of dollars already paid in taxes, even as federal figures show more than $133 billion was collected. The decision will go down to lower courts and probably drag on for several weeks, or even months. There are additional issues on the Supreme Court’s plate such as voting rights and birth right citizenship. Will the conservatives hold together, or will they show more independence and fracture?

It is also not clear how many Republicans in Congress will begin to break with Trump. His control has been almost total, but will he begin to be seen as an increasingly unsuccessful and weak lame duck?

Trump Claims “Republicans Should Take Over the Voting” in at least “15 Places”. This would be a Dangerous Violation of the Constitution and a Further Sign He is Losing his Grip on Reality.

President Trump has made another outlandish claim which distracts attention from the 3 million newly released Epstein files, but which also shows a growing break with reality. In an interview with the “podfather” Don Bongino, Trump advocated, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least, many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” (Readers might recall that Bongino was recently the Deputy Director of the FBI but who resigned from his post to return to his podcasting gig.)

Trump’s proposal is clearly in violation of our national Constitution, which explicitly states who is responsible for managing these elections.

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof…” (Article I, Section 4).

The Constitution can be amended, of course, but only by Congress, not by the President and certainly not by any political party.

Why is Trump making this absurd recommendation? I believe it is due to his ego and his unhealthy obsession with the 2020 presidential election. For the last five years, he has repeatedly affirmed without any evidence, that he won that election in a landslide. For his claim to be true, he had to win the election in Georgia, which he lost by 12,670 votes. He requested an official hand recount of the votes. In fact, there were three recounts and Trump lost in all three recounts with similar results. Georgia’s Governor and Secretary of State are both conservative Republicans and repeatedly have confirmed that the Georgia election was free and fair, and that Trump lost. What is worse, the president called the Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, and attempted to steal the election by trying to get the Secretary to change the count. (this call was taped and is easily accessible). Trump’s own Attorney General, Bill Barr, told him he lost and should give up his allegation of voter fraud.

It is sad when anybody begins to lose touch with reality. This is happening to our president (ex. he confused Iceland and Greenland eight times in a recent important speech.) The best thing we can do is to correct these mistakes and help the person face reality. Those supporters who are “enabling’ Trump in his false allegations are not helping him nor our country. There might be valid reasons to support Trump, but repeating his false allegations about 2020 voter fraud is certainly not one of them.

If He Walks Like a Dictator, and Talks Like a Dictator, Ergo…

The Good Book teaches that you can know people’s real character by examining their actions. “By their fruits you will know them.”

A more modern version of this truth is the following expression: “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

I suggest this test should be applied as a question for our nation’s president, his cabinet, and our people. “If he walks like a dictator, and talks like a dictator, are we descending into a dictatorship?”

If he walks like a dictator…

President Trump sent troops into Venezuela to “extract” President Maduro and his wife and bring them to the United States. This was definitely a military attack because it involved more than 150 military aircraft and Venezuelan military bases were bombed. Trump ordered this attack without seeking nor obtaining the required congressional authorization.
He did not even inform the bipartisan, congressional “Gang of 8” which previous presidents had done.
Trump did not seek nor obtain the authorization of the United Nations Security Council. Unless authorization is granted, (and it wasn’t) this means Trump violated the UN Charter in Article 2(4), which affirms that member states must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of political independence of any state.
Stephen Miller is Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff and is a regular spokesperson for the president. He was recently asked a question by Jake Tapper regarding Trump’s use of force in Venezuela and possible use of military power to take over Greenland. He answered, “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.” This is a rejection of all universal ethics and international rule of law.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a sitting president cannot be charged for any crime committed while fulfilling the duties of the presidency. For all practical purposes, this means that the president is “above the law”.
Given that the US President also has the power to pardon or to commute the sentence of any person guilty of federal crimes, Trump can extend this “lawlessness forgiveness” to anyone who commits a crime in carrying out his wishes. On his first day in office, Trump pardoned nearly 1600 people who were found guilty of rioting at the nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021. A mockery of the rule of law takes place when this pardon extends to unrepentant criminals such as George Santos, Rudy Giuliani, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking.
This past Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old women in Minneapolis. Before a thorough investigation had occurred, Vice President Vance declared that the ICE agent had “total immunity”.

And talks like a dictator…

This past week Mr. Trump sat down for an interview with senior reporters from the New York Times. They asked him a variety of questions. When asked if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
At another moment in the interview, Trump affirmed, “I don’t need international law.” When asked if the U.S. government should comply with international law, he answered “yes” but clarified that in situations where it restricts the U.S., the decision-maker is himself, adding, “It depends on how you define international law.” This reflects Trump’s characteristic dismissive attitude toward international law, such as sovereignty and borders. National power as implemented by the president—not law or treaties—should be the decisive factor when great powers clash. In his own mind, he is above international law.

The Descent into a Dictatorship

To avoid a complete fall into a dictatorship, the Judiciary and Legislative branches of the US government should fulfill their congressional duties of being a guardrail against all excesses of the Executive branch. The checks and balances of the three branches are necessary in a democracy with fallen leaders. Thus wrote our wise ancestors in the Constitution.

PS Dear readers, per our healthy custom, if you find any factual inaccuracy in this writing, please let me know.

The Teaching of Jesus Denounces the “Donroe” Doctrine: So should those who Follow Jesus

The Monroe Doctrine was coined in the early Nineteenth Century to describe US President James Monroe’s vision for the Americas. Its core proclamation was that the European powers should take their grubby hands out of the Western Hemisphere (which I applaud) and allow the emerging nation, the United States, to fulfill the role of imperial power in the Americas (which I denounce).

In light of the US intervention in Venezuela over the weekend, President Trump renamed the vision as the “Donroe” doctrine. He described what this meant: “the US dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again” and “we (= the Trump administration) run Venezuela”. Trump identified other countries where he might intervene and rule: Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, and even Greenland!

What would Jesus say about this new application of the Monroe Doctrine? (Although it is somewhat risky to apply Jesus’ teaching today, twenty centuries after He walked the earth, this is precisely what followers of Christ are called to do.) Jesus clearly described the typical conduct of earthly rulers: “The rulers of the nations lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves ‘Doers of Good’. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26)

Human rulers lord it over their people, and even though their actions of dominating other people is sinful and denounced by Jesus, human rulers like to describe these actions as “good”. Nevertheless, the Good Book says “woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”

Followers of Jesus might be attracted to bits and pieces of Trump’s policies, but the Donroe Doctrine definitely does not fit in that category. It is a clear vision, but clearly wrong. The teaching of Jesus denounces the domination of one nation over another. The followers of Christ should denounce it as well.

Trump’s Troops Capture Venezuelan President Maduro. Does Might Make Right?

Overnight, U.S. troops entered Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flew them out of the country under U.S. custody. They are to stand trial in the United States. This military maneuver came as a surprise to many, both inside and outside of Venezuela. Civilians died, but the number of deaths is still unknown. There is no doubt that this attack reveals U.S. military supremacy, but that is not the major issue. The main question that must be answered is the following: “Does might make right?”. All major ethical systems would answer with a clear “No!”

Let’s be clear. Maduro was a thug. Although he had previously been elected President of his country, it also seems quite evident that he stole the most recent election. His Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez has claimed that she is running the country according to the Venezuelan Constitution. Some of the opposition affirm that it should be Edmundo Gonzalez who really won the election. Others suggest it should be Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado. It remains to be seen who the Venezuelan generals will support. It is likely there will be fighting in the streets with many deaths. My hope and prayer are that the Venezuelan people will determine their own national destiny.

Nevertheless, I raise serious questions for the Trump administration.

According to the U.S. Constitution, Congress must authorize acts of warfare. Trump did not seek nor obtain this authorization. Neither did he even inform the bipartisan “Gang of 8” before the attack. Article 2 of the Constitution is an exception which grants limited war power to the President but only if U.S. personnel are under “actual or imminent” attack. Under no stretch of the imagination was this condition met.
Trump did not appeal to the United Nations for authorization. In fact, the President of Colombia has already asked the UN Security Council to intervene. Will the U.S. (a founding member of the UN) even acknowledge that it violated the UN charter?
Trump gave a campaign promise that he would not take our country into war, especially to bring about “regime change”. Hegseth and Rubio made the same promise to our Congress last month. Trump does not seem to understand the complexities of Venezuela’s internal polarization. Does he have any clue about the “day after”. Did candidate Trump lie to his MAGA base?
Just War Theory affirms that wars should never be waged in order to obtain the natural resources of another country. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. To what extent has this oil motivated Trump’s military attack?
According to the polls, Trump is the most unpopular president of the last hundred years. Over 60% of Americans disagree with his policies on the economy, health care, ICE detentions, and tariffs. Does he hope our people will rally around a president at war with a “cheap patriotism? A genuine love for one’s country seeks truth, justice, the rule of law and peace that comes from national righteousness.

I ask all people of good will to ask and answer these tough, but necessary questions. “Might makes right” is an immoral heresy that should be rejected.

Ukraine Again: An Evil Dictator (Putin), a Weak President (Trump) and No End to the War

On Sunday Ukrainian President Zelensky met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss steps to end the four year old war by Putin’s Russia on its weaker neighbor. Both Trump and Zelensky claimed that “progress” had been made. Even while negotiations were going on, Putin was continuing the bombing of civilian areas in Ukraine. Trump then talked to Putin by phone and affirmed the strange claim that Putin wanted Ukraine to “succeed”. Later, Putin alleged that Ukraine sent drone strikes at one of his personal residences in Russia. Trump became very angry when he heard about these strikes, although he did admit that these strikes could be fictitious.

You probably see many holes in this narrative…and rightly you should. We have seen this script acted out (with a few variations) for four long years. We have been on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs where hopes of a peace are raised and then dashed to pieces…again and again. I am tired of hearing the same lies over and over. Let’s shine the light of truth on two specific individuals.

Putin is an evil aggressor who invaded Ukraine. He is guilty of war crimes. He is not a man of peace. And in no way does he want Ukraine to succeed. He claims he wants peace but he does not sit down with Zelensky to have genuine negotiations. His demands for concessions (land, no NATO membership or protection for Ukraine) are ridiculous that none of us would accept. An honest appraisal of Putin would conclude that he has “played” the White House and continues to do so.
Although Trump likes to bully his rivals and subordinates, in fact, he is a weak president. He has never stood up to Putin (nor to any other authoritarian leader like China’s Xi). He praises Putin at every turn. “Putin did not start this war,” “Putin wants to end this war,” and “Putin is a man of peace.” Nevertheless, we have seen the evidence. Putin will never end this war because of any supposed “goodness” in his heart. He will only agree to a peace deal when war becomes too costly. Economic sanctions need to be levied against Putin until he is forced to negotiate. Mr. Trump, don’t blame our European allies. Work with them to apply economic pressure upon Putin. Do not enable him any longer. In short, become a true leader.

President Trump Continues to Break Many Laws and to Violate the Constitution. Woe to Those Who Enable Him

The Epstein Files – A month ago, both chambers of Congress passed a bill (the Epstein Files Transparency Act) that required the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all of the Epstein files regarding sex trafficking by December 19, 2025 (with a limited amount of material to be redacted in order to protect the identity of the victims). On Friday some 13,000 files had been released but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted that not all of the files would be released by Friday.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie from Kentucky who co-sponsored the bill is not convinced that the DOJ is acting in good faith.. Prior to the release of this first trove of files, in a post to X, Massie described the information he was expecting. “The victims’ lawyers have been in contact with me. And collectively, they know there are at least 20 names of men who are accused of sex crimes in the possession of the FBI. So, if we get a large production on December 19th, and it does not contain a single name of any male who’s accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape or any of these things, then we know they haven’t produced all the documents”. In addition, sixteen files with pictures that were inadvertently released on Friday had already been taken down from the website by Saturday because they contained a photograph of Trump. After reviewing the material, Massie accused the DOJ of “flouting the spirit and the letter of the law.”

If President Trump is truly innocent of any criminality, he should order the DOJ to release all the files immediately. To not release them means allowing guilty pedophiles and sex traffickers to continue to freely roam our streets. (Breaking news: a second trove of documents has just been released. This is due to the outcry raised by citizens of both parties.)

War with Venezuela? – In early September, Secretary of Defense Hegseth began to order military strikes against small boats off the coast of Venezuela and also in the eastern Pacific. As of today, more than 29 boats have been destroyed and over 100 people have been killed. Hegseth has alleged that Venezuela was smuggling drugs Into the United States but the evidence makes the allegation quite unconvincing for the following reasons:

Athough Venezuela is far from perfect, it does not have a history of shipping drugs to the United States. Fentanyl comes through Mexico and Cocaine through Colombia or Central America.
Drug smugglers would not use precious cargo space for people; they would fill up the holds with drugs.
Although several boats were destroyed in the Pacific, these could not have been Venezuelan, because Venezuela does not even have a coastline on the Pacific! These boats would have had to come through the Panama Canal. Ridiculous!

More recently, three Venezuelan oil tankers have been stopped and/or seized by the U.S. military, Republican Senator Rand Paul claims that Trump is trying to provoke a war, so that the U.S. can take control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Trump’s attacks on boats and detention of oil tankers are acts of warfare. According to our Constitution, it is Congress that should declare war. If the president has a legitimate case for war, let him present it to Congress where both the House of Representatives and the Senate are controlled by Republicans.

Trump’s Name on Government Buildings – During his second term in the White House, Donald Trump (and his acolytes) have tried to place his name or face all over the place (on a new one dollar coin, on Mount Rushmore, on the Institute of Peace, and most recently, on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. This last attempt is a most obscene demonstration of his narcissistic megalomania. First, he fired members of the Board and replaced them with his cronies. He also named himself Chair of the Board. He then feigned modesty and unawareness when the Board voted to add his name (and in front of JFK’s!) to the Kennedy Memorial Center.

He and his Board also showed a complete lack of knowledge of the meaning of the word “memorial”. “Memorial” is used to honor people who have already died, not those who are still alive. Perhaps the White House knows something about the state of the president’s health that we don’t know. In any case, it was Congress that originally named the Kennedy Center and only Congress can rename it.

Enablers – Enablers are people who through their silence allow their leaders, family members, or others to continue practicing bad or criminal behavior. This silence is quite damaging. Although every administration has had its share of enablers, the current one seems to be permeated by “Yes men and women”. People of integrity praise what is good and denounce that which is immoral. I invite supporters of Trump to find their moral backbone and to reject his most unjust and illegal actions.

Trump, Venezuela and the “War on Drugs”

Let’s speak clearly. The United States does have a drug problem! Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate there were an estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2024. By far, the deadliest drug is fentanyl, which annually causes over 70,000 overdose deaths. Nevertheless, it is not Venezuela that moves fentanyl into the U.S. It is China via drug cartels located in Mexico.

The deadliest drug that comes into the United States from South America is not fentanyl. It is cocaine, made from the coca plant. Venezuela does not grow much coca. The biggest growers of coca and the countries that export the most cocaine to the U.S. are Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

From September until the present, the Trump administration, via the Secretary of Defense Hegseth, has struck more than twenty small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing over 80 civilians. The government has alleged that these boats were smuggling drugs into the United States, but have not provided an ounce of proof. It is highly unlikely these boats were smuggling drugs into the U.S. for a variety of reasons: Venezuela exports oil, not drugs; a drug smuggler would fill up the limited space in his small boat with drugs, not passengers; no drugs have been retrieved from the crippled boats; and the survivors from the September 2 strike were struck and killed in a second strike, rather than provide eyewitness account of the purpose of their boat’s cargo.

Just yesterday, the U.S. military seized a large Venezuelan oil tanker and has maintained possession of it. When asked by reporters what would happen to the oil, President Trump said, “We would keep it.” These actions ordered by the Pentagon are clearly military actions of warfare. According to the U.S. Constitution, unless there is an actual attack on the United States, only Congress can declare war. We are not at war with Venezuela. Therefore, the strikes against these small boats, including the death of more than 80 civilians, and the seizure of the tanker, were definitely illegal and probably acts of murder. If the Pentagon has valid evidence, it should make its case to Congress…immediately. In addition, the U.S. should take its case to the United Nations Security Council because these military actions have taken place in international waters.

So why are Trump and Hegseth making up bogus claims of alleged drug shipments from Venezuela? Probably to distract us from real issues like inflation and health insurance prices.

This is an ethical and legal test for our current administration and our Secretary of Defense. Will they pass the test? I doubt it.