Time for a procedural check question: Trump can't get our troops into a battle skirmish

[Baitball Blogger]

without the approval of the Congress: Yes/No?

[Irish_Dem]

1. ha ha. Trump does whatever he wants.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Only Congress can declare war.

But the the fact that Bush ordered the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

At this juncture, there are no wars US Troops need to be a part of.

[Wounded Bear]

3. That hasn't been true since Vietnam...

It only becomes a question when it becomes a major military operation. How big of an operation isn't really well defined.

"Skirmish" usually refers to a small battle between two small military forces. POTUS can send in a SEAL Team basically anywhere for any reason, and engage in lethal force to accomplish whatever the mission is. Sending in the whole 101st Airborne division would be problematic and would "require" a declaration of war or something. Would a battalion or brigate level operation be a war or not? Good question.

Sadly, in an era when small unit actions are more the norm, POTUS can get us involved in a lot of fighting without Congressional approval. Knowing trump, he will stretch the limits to the max.

[madville]

4. War powers act of 1973

Yes, he can get us involved in minor conflicts, just must notify Congress within 48 hours and needs Congressional approval to go past 60 days of operations.

[bpj62]

5. World War Ii

That was the last time that the United States Congress formally declared war. Korea was considered a "Police Action" and Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to escalate our troop presence in Vietnam. We have invaded Grenada, Panama and Kuwait since then without any Congressional authorization.

Trump is going to invade Mexico and he is going to get alot of soldiers and American civilians killed. He doesn't understand just how ruthless and depraved the Cartels are. Also Mexico isn't just going to stand by and let this happen without some sort of retaliation. It may not be a military action but it will be something that will cause the American people some sort of pain.

[Igel]

6. Congress really has ceded a lot of its authority to the

executive.

Accumulated power attracts those who love and seek power.

[Dan]

8. The blessing

If you would say that is that the Cartels just don’t fight soldiers, civilians, judges. Etc., they fight everyone and anyone.

[Dan]

7. No

Because it would depend on the definition of the “conflict” or rather the name he would use to define the “conflict”.

[EndlessWire]

9. Is this a reference to Panama?

Trump so far has chosen weaker opponents. If he's trolling for approval, he's going to be disappointed. But, I think he would do that without approval. He doesn't care.

He seems to be casting about for someone to attack. ??? It's not like these countries don't have friends. He's nuts.