Trump launches an unconstitutional 3 am attack on Iran

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Trump Launches an Unconstitutional “War”

President Trump launched an attack on Iran in the early morning hours Saturday, doing so without Congressional authority or notification and sparking conflict in the Middle East. From MS NOW reporting: [1]

The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran on Saturday, and U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to “take over your government” — an extraordinary appeal that suggested the allies could be seeking to end of the country’s theocracy after decades of tensions.
The first strikes of the attack appeared to target the compound home to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there at the time. Smoke could be seen rising from the Iranian capital.

You can watch the video announcement – posted on Truth Social and announced from Mar-a-Lago – and read the transcript here [2].

Two key points from these actions and his announcement:

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war.” Trump himself describes these actions as “war”
Trump took these actions without any notification or authorization of Congress, which, when it comes to war, are unconstitutional

Major General (Ret.) Paul D. Eaton, an Army commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom, released the following statement on today’s strikes against Iran, noting that today’s action constitutes a “war of choice”: [3]

Men who know more about war than Donald Trump ever will warned him repeatedly about the risks to American lives by starting a war with Iran. Indeed, Trump himself predicted casualties in his speech to America. The Constitution could not be more clear. When launching wars of choice, especially with American lives in the balance, the president goes to Congress and Congress authorizes it. That did not happen, and these operations are blatantly unconstitutional.
More to the point, these operations seem to have no focus. Trump says they’re to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but just last year he said we ‘obliterated’ that program. It seems to be targeting missile sites, but Trump says it is to stoke regime change. A war without focus is a war with no tangible goals. And a war with no goals ends up a Forever War.
Trump said these kinds of Forever Wars would never happen under his presidency. He lied. Just like saying he’d lower prices and bring back jobs, he lied.
The Republican Congress must now hold him accountable, or we will hold Republicans in Congress accountable in November.

As General Eaton points out, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution places the power to declare war in the hands of Congress, not the President. [4]

The Constitution doesn’t enforce itself, though; it requires the other branches to step in and check the others.

Trump’s actions to put the service men and women in danger, possibly with casualties resulting from his war of choice, requires Congress to stand up and become a meaningful branch of government again.

Last week, the Supreme Court (finally) checked the President on his illegal tariffs [5][6] – though, the Trump administration is still holding on to the money. [7] As Kai Ryssdal of NPR’s Marketplace says, “The government illegally took your money. They won’t give it back.” [8]

However, if Congress holds a prospective War Powers Resolution vote [9] that declares that Congress doesn’t approve of these attacks or tries to put limits on the President that he ignores, what then? This won’t necessarily stop Trump; in only one year in office for his second term, Trump had already attacked seven different countries. [10]

The only real check on this type of unconstitutional action – articles of impeachment from Congress. Send the articles to the Senate and hold a trial for violating the Constitution.

So, Why War? And Why Now?

Timothy Snyder is an American historian of Europe and a public intellectual on both continents. His best selling book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century focuses on how authoritarianism takes hold and how to resist. Snyder recently posted on how to view this Iranian war and what might be behind it: [11]

How do understand the war with Iran? We must get away from the propaganda and ask why this might be happening, in light of the facts that we do know.
These facts suggest two interpretive frameworks: a foreign war as a mechanism to destroy democracy at home; and a foreign war as an element of personal corruption by the president of the United States.
…
A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked. And they must be asked in light of what we already know. The presumption created by the surrounding evidence is that this war could very well be about (1) subverting US democracy, (2) enriching the president, or both. These are presumptions, not proof — but they provide the solid lines of inquiry as we learn more about the war.

The New York Times Editorial Board has also asked “why have you started this war, Mr. President?” [12] and have called the attack “reckless.” [13]

In his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised voters that he would end wars, not start them. Over the past year, he has instead ordered military strikes in seven nations. His appetite for military intervention grows with the eating.
…
Mr. Trump’s approach to Iran is reckless. His goals are ill-defined. He has failed to line up the international and domestic support that would be necessary to maximize the chances of a successful outcome. He has disregarded both domestic and international law for warfare.

Narratives

The book I’m reading or movie I’m watching

Cover-Up (now streaming on Netflix)

He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.

From Wikipedia: [14]

Seymour Hersh is an American investigative journalist and political writer. He gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. During the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal for The New York Times, also reporting on the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia and the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) program of domestic spying. In 2004, he detailed the U.S. military's torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq for The New Yorker. Hersh has won five George Polk Awards and two National Magazine Awards.

GIF Game

Notes and Sources

[1] “Israel reportedly launches attack on Iran’s capital with U.S. help,” MS NOW, February 28, 2026, https://www.ms.now/news/apparent-strike-in-irans-capital-happened-near-offices-of-supreme-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei

[2] “Read Trump's full statement on Iran attacks,” PBS News, February 28, 2026, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/read-trumps-full-statement-on-iran-attack

[3] “Iraq War General Warns Against Today’s Strikes on Iran,” VoteVets, press release, February 28, 2026, https://votevets.org/press-releases/votevets-statement-on-trumps-unconstitutional-launch-of-war-with-iran

[4] United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-1/#article-1-section-8-clause-11

[5] Mic Farris, “Tariff Tantrum,” February 21, 2026, https://www.micfarris.com/articles/tariff-tantrum

[6] Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. ______ (2026), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1287_4gcj.pdf

[7] Tony Romm, “Trump Signals Opposition to Tariff Refunds, Hinting at Legal War to Come,” New York Times, February 27, 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/business/trump-tariffs-refunds-supreme-court.html

[8] Kai Ryssdal [@kairyssdal.bsky.social], Bluesky, February 27, 2026, https://bsky.app/profile/kairyssdal.bsky.social/post/3mfvcfgfhwk2l

[9] Lisa Mascaro, “Members of Congress demand swift vote on war powers resolution after Trump orders Iran strike without congressional approval,” PBS News, February 28, 2026, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/members-of-congress-demand-swift-vote-on-war-powers-resolution-after-trump-orders-iran-strike-without-congressional-approval

[10] “A Guide to Trump’s Second-Term Military Strikes and Actions,” Council on Foreign Relations, January 13, 2026, https://www.cfr.org/articles/guide-trumps-second-term-military-strikes-and-actions

[11] Timothy Snyder, “Why Attack Iran?” Thinking About…, February 28, 2026, https://snyder.substack.com/p/why-attack-iran

[12] New York Times Opinion [@nytopinion.nytimes.com], Bluesky, February 28, 2026, https://bsky.app/profile/nytopinion.nytimes.com/post/3mfwepuhfmn2w

[13] New York Times Editorial Board, “Trump’s Attack on Iran Is Reckless,” New York Times, February 28, 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/opinion/iran-attack-trump-war.html

[14] “Seymour Hersh,” Wikipedia, retrieved February 28, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh

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