Democrats in the Senate are pushing a pair of War Powers resolutions aimed at curbing Donald Trump’s ability to wage war abroad after the president directed a U.S. strike on Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Nicolas Maduro – and with the president leaving open the possibility that other countries could also be targeted.
Sen. Ruben Gallego on Tuesday announced a resolution aimed at preventing the president from using military force in an attempt to seize Greenland amid renewed threats from the White House challenging Denmark’s sovereignty over the territory. His announcement comes as the Senate is due on Thursday to vote on a separate resolution aimed at preventing further U.S. strikes inside Venezuela without congressional authority.
It follows the stunning U.S. raid over the weekend which ended in the capture of Maduro and his wife, who are now facing drug trafficking charges in New York. Maduro has pled not guilty and says he is a prisoner of war. On Sunday the president also reignited his threats to use military force to seize the territory of Greenland if Denmark refused to negotiate with him, prompting a response from Gallego.
“Trump is on a high from his illegal operation in Venezuela and is bragging about potentially sending our young men and women into more stupid wars of conquest. Greenland could be next. I’m introducing an amendment to make it clear that Congress will not bankroll illegal, unnecessary military action in Greenland just to soothe the ego of a power hungry wannabe dictator,” wrote the Arizona senator on X.
“We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” he added.
But like the Venezuela resolution, Gallego’s faces a tough road ahead. The Senate, which remains in Republican hands, defeated a resolution in the fall aimed at halting the president’s campaign of military strikes targeting boats in the south Caribbean that the U.S. government says are operated by drug traffickers. Even with the latest raid on Caracas, the president’s supporters in the Senate hold an edge as even a handful of Democrats have come out in support of the attack, such as Sen. John Fetterman.
On the issue of Trump’s threats against Denmark’s control of Greenland, Fetterman has also broken with party leadership and called the idea of acquiring Greenland through legal means “strategically a smart thing.” The senator has said he would never accept the U.S. taking Greenland by force, however, making his support for Gallego’s resolution an open question.
A handful of Republicans have come out in opposition to the president’s saber rattling around Greenland, but the list does not extend far beyond the usual GOP members who break with the president with some frequency. Much of the party remains in lockstep with Trump, and either resolution would require four defections within the Republican Senate caucus to pass even with every Democrat voting in favor.
The president can also issue a veto for War Powers resolutions. Overriding Trump’s veto would require two thirds of both chambers voting in support.
Denmark’s prime minister said Monday that a U.S. invasion of Greenland would mark the end of the NATO alliance. It would also likely be a bridge too far for most Senate Republicans, who still dismiss it as a possibility. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Tuesday that military intervention in Greenland is “not something that anybody is contemplating seriously.”
Other Republicans like Rep. Don Bacon, one of Trump’s frequent critics on foreign policy, say the real danger is posed by the damage that the rhetoric about Greenland spread by Trump and aides such as Stephen Miller is doing to the U.S. alliance with Denmark and the broader NATO coalition.
“This is really dumb,” wrote Bacon on X, responding to Stephen Miller’s repeated refusal to rule out military force in the effort to acquire Greenland during a clip of an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday.
“Greenland and Denmark are our allies. There is no up side to demeaning our friends. But, it is causing wounds that will take time to heal.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, maintained on Tuesday that the president was not ruling out a military invasion.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” she said in a statement to CNBC. “The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.”
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