The Senate's Failure To Rein in Trump on Iran Is Part of a Long History of Congress Abdicating Its War Powers
War making in "the power of a single man" is not what the Founders intended.

The Great American State Fair promised a celebration of freedom. So why was I stuck in the air?
War making in "the power of a single man" is not what the Founders intended.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) met with President Donald Trump to seek assistance with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) on Thursday at the White House. According to Politico, Luna froze all House floor votes until the Senate passes Trump's Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act. Luna enjoys direct Oval Office access, while Johnson required an appointment, noted Politico. Speaking on anonymity, a House Republican said, "The speaker talks to the president a lot. But Luna talks to him more."During a previous cryptocurrency bill dispute, Luna walked out of a Treasury Department meeting and into the Oval Office, where Trump granted hard-liners concessions, Politico previously reported. "It's not my job to play trust games with the Senate when they've actively betrayed our trust multiple times," Luna said. "Plus, the president's on my side."The blockade now threatens the annual defense bill and eliminates two weeks of floor time. Johnson plans to propose a grant program encouraging stricter voter ID rules, but Luna has already rejected it as insufficient. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) criticized Luna, "You can't be a team of one."Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
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A White House insider unloaded after a GOP presidential hopeful went after one of its own, according to a new report.The Daily Mail reported comments from an anonymous White House insider who responded to attacks by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) against Trump's Iran deal.Cruz has criticized the Trump deal to end a war with Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz, telling reporters this month that "the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal," The Mail noted. The criticism is seen as "an obvious attempt" to position himself for a future presidential run with a "non-interventionist" stance, according to The Mail, which also highlighted his failed bids against Trump."Cruz has no shortage of ambition," The Mail wrote, citing White House sources. "The Texas senator has long felt that Trump robbed him of the presidency in 2016 and that he could have easily beat the unpopular Democrat Hillary Clinton."However, the White House insider responded to The Mail's request for comment on Cruz's criticism and the idea that he could be setting himself up for a 2028 presidential run."Ted is an instrument of the donor class," the White House insider told the Daily Mail. "A very unlikable instrument, who unbeknownst to him will never be president."The White House insider also shot down rumors that Vice President J.D. Vance had "gone rogue," as The Mail put it. Another White House official summed up criticisms of the Iran war deal as part of "handwringing and bedwetting" from Republicans that has no effect on Vance's alignment with Trump."There is no pearl clutching in this White House," the White House official told The Daily Mail. "Everyone, including the vice president, is following the president's lead on the peace deal, and no amount of handwringing and bedwetting from Washington, D.C. Republican 'panic-ans' will change that."
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) ran to President Donald Trump for help with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) after she hijacked the House and derailed his agenda.Luna has frozen all floor votes until the Senate passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — Trump's elections overhaul that has stalled for months. Johnson met with Trump at the White House on Thursday, seeking a way out, according to a Politico report.She enjoys Oval Office walk-in privileges, the report said. But Johnson had to book an appointment."The speaker talks to the president a lot. But Luna talks to him more," one House Republican told the outlet, speaking anonymously.During a fight over a cryptocurrency bill last year, Luna walked out of a Treasury Department meeting, went straight to the White House, and into the Oval Office. Trump brought the whole group in and handed hard-liners a concession, the report said."Luna has more operational control around here than most anyone," a second House Republican said anonymously."It's not my job to play trust games with the Senate when they've actively betrayed our trust multiple times," Luna told the outlet. "Plus, the president's on my side."The blockade is now threatening the annual defense bill and erasing two weeks of floor time. "She's going to have to start being a team player here," Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) fumed. "You can't be a team of one."Johnson is expected to pitch Trump a compromise — a grant program nudging states toward stricter voter ID rules. Luna has already shot it down as insufficient, the report said."I'm going to talk with the president about these issues and how to get the agenda moving again," Johnson told reporters Thursday. He did not mention Luna by name.
Stephen Miller is very, very excited about the Supreme Court’s big ruling Thursday allowing Donald Trump to summarily end protections from deportation for hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the United States. After the decision came down, Miller enthused: “We can finally remove these Haitian illegal migrants.”If we take Miller at his word, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is about to hit a Trump-backing county in red Ohio with a big, disruptive operation. Around 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in the area in and around Springfield, a small Rust Belt city in Clark County, which Trump won in 2024 by 30 points. Many enjoy Temporary Protected Status, which grants protections to people from dangerous, crisis-ridden countries—status that Trump has scrapped. Now that the high court sided with Trump, many will now be subject to immediate deportation.The name “Springfield” might jog your memory a bit. During the 2024 campaign, Trump and JD Vance targeted Springfield when they pushed the vile smear that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets. The Trump-Vance demagoguery unleashed searing social tensions in this post-industrial Midwestern city, and it temporarily became the center of our political universe before other controversies intervened.Now, however, Springfield has taken on an overlooked role in the Supreme Court’s new ruling. The case involves Trump’s 2025 decision to end TPS for around 330,000 Haitians nationally and a smaller number of Syrians. Plaintiffs sued, arguing in part that race drove the decision. Exhibit A was Trump’s language about Haitians in Springfield, such as his claim that they are “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” of the city’s residents.In a widely condemned move, the conservative justices, led by Samuel Alito, found a way to rule that none of those statements were “overtly racial” and that the decision to end TPS “could” be motivated by “race-neutral justifications.” Intriguingly, their ruling didn’t bother to print any of Trump’s supposedly-non-overtly-racial statements. But in her searing dissent, Justice Elena Kagan marshalled tons of racist statements from Trump, noting that race was obviously a partial motivator behind nixing TPS—enough to demonstrate an equal-protection violation.In a sense, this whole saga shows what happens when the deranged world of MAGA make-believe becomes the basis for real-world policy. At the time, the pet-eating smears about Haitians in Springfield were entirely made up. Indeed, JD Vance openly said the meme was designed to draw attention to the more important story: That Springfield had been “ravaged” by Haitian immigrants.But the thing is, the underlying story that Vance piously claimed to care about was also made up. Vance buttressed his “ravaged” slur by falsely insisting that Haitians had brought a “massive rise in communicable diseases,” thus pushing the vile smear that immigrants are diseased. Indeed, you might have forgotten what happened after Trump and Vance targeted Springfield: Many locals forcefully debunked the bigger story Vance purported to be telling. They vociferously defended those Haitians, and spoke up emotionally about their contributions to local economies and communities. This even included Republicans like Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Springfield Mayor Rob Rue. DeWine hailed the Haitians as “hard workers” who just want “the chance for a better life,” having escaped “one of the poorest and most dangerous places on earth.” Local business owners powerfully seconded these sentiments.So will ICE now descend on this small Ohio city and turn it into the next Minneapolis?Miller seems to suggest as much. An alternate possibility is this: Rather than big, splashy raids, ICE could proceed with what Ohio-based immigration advocate Lynn Tramonte calls a strategy of “attrition.” This would entail taking quiet steps to make the Haitians’ lives more and more unlivable, perhaps with pressure on local employers to fire all their Haitian workers, who will now lose their work permits.Such a move would avoid drawing too much attention to the removals, which would likely prove deeply unpopular, both in Springfield and even in the redder areas outlying it. After all, the Haitians are deeply interwoven into the area, both economically and in terms of community. Jim Swift of The Bulwark reports this from on-the-ground in Springfield:Haitians have helped reverse decades of decline in Springfield since 2010. They filled factory jobs, opened businesses, started churches, and helped stabilize the city’s population after years of shrinkage. As the Ohio Capital Journal details, local officials are now bracing for these removals, because their impact would be deeply disruptive. They would slash the local workforce while eliminating $300 million in annual spending throughout Clark County, possibly leading to an economic loss of $400 million.Great job, MAGA!
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna leads conservatives vowing to block all House floor votes until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act.