NY Times Editorial Board Scorches Trump’s ‘Illegal and Unwise’ Attack On Venezuela: ‘Mr. Trump’s Warmongering Violates the Law’

The New York Times editorial board ripped President Donald Trump’s decision to launch what he has termed a “large scale strike” on Venezuela — leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

In a scathing op-ed published Saturday morning, the Gray Lady’s editorial board slammed the president for launching the strike without a green light from Congress.

“Mr. Trump has not yet offered a coherent explanation for his actions in Venezuela,” the editorial board wrote. “He is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons. If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress. Without congressional approval, his actions violate U.S. law.”

The editorial board went on to trash what it termed the administration’s “nominal rationale” for the strike — the notion they are taking out “narco-terrorists” — calling it a “particularly ludicrous” claim. Instead, it cites Trump’s recently published national security strategy — a document in which the Times board says Trump claims the U.S. has “the right to dominate Latin America.”

“Venezuela has apparently become the first country subject to this latter-day imperialism, and it represents a dangerous and illegal approach to America’s place in the world,” the board wrote. “By proceeding without any semblance of international legitimacy, valid legal authority or domestic endorsement, Mr. Trump risks providing justification for authoritarians in China, Russia and elsewhere who want to dominate their own neighbors. More immediately, he threatens to replicate the American hubris that led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.”

The closing paragraph of the piece was nothing short of stunning.

“We will hold out hope that the current crisis will end less badly than we expect,” the board wrote. “We fear that the result of Mr. Trump’s adventurism is increased suffering for Venezuelans, rising regional instability and lasting damage for America’s interests around the world. We know that Mr. Trump’s warmongering violates the law.”

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