Trump Ally Rep. Matt Gaetz Surprisingly Joins Dems in Passing Resolution Limiting President’s War Powers Against Iran

In a surprising twist, staunch Trump defender Rep. Matt Gaetz broke ranks with most of his party and voted with the vast majority of House Democrats to pass a war powers resolution that would constrain President Donald Trump from taking any further military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

During a passionate House floor speech on Thursday afternoon, Gaetz noted that he had just attended a burial of a military service member at Arlington National Cemetery, before expressing his support for the resolution as a test of Congressional courage. The House resolution ultimately passed 224-194, with just three Republicans, including Gaetz, and one Independent supporting its passage.

“If the members of our armed services have the courage to go and fight and die in these wars, as Congress, we ought to have the courage to vote for them or against them,” Gaetz argued. “Engaging in another forever war in the Middle East would be the wrong decision, and that’s why I’m voting for this resolution.”

Later on Thursday evening, Gaetz elaborated on his reasoning with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has been that network’s most vocal anti-war voice recently.

“I think it’s fair to say you are certainly one of the people in the house closest to the president,” Carlson noted. “He is completely opposed to this. You, as his close ally, voted for it. Tell us why you did that.”

“I think he got a few of the advisors of the president who are trying to slow-walk the administration into war. When the president relies on his instincts and we have the Trump Doctrine, we kill the terrorist and we come home. And I think this war powers resolution was worthy of support because it did not criticize the president. It did not say he was wrong in killing [Qasem] Soleimani. But he did — it did say that if any president wants to drag our nation into another forever Middle East war that they require the approval of the United States Congress. That’s something I deeply believe. And I think it’s something the president deeply believes.”

“The Constitution requires that, I think it’s pretty obvious that it does,” Carlson pointed out. “But why wouldn’t Congress, if they are so in favor of a military action put themselves on the record endorsing it. It seems like one of the reasons people oppose this is because they are afraid. They are cowards in the Congress.”

“I think we have members of Congress that depart from what the Framers and Founders believed would happen. They believed that we would closely guard our Article I powers and that we would ensure that no president would be able to take those away in any sort of affront to what was intended for us to be our responsibility,” Gaetz said, before subtly taking a shot at fellow Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, who criticized as “empowering the enemy” the House’s decision to debate Trump’s war powers. It’s my belief that declaring war is non-delegable duty of the United States Congress and it’s ludicrous for any of my colleagues to suggest we have to not do our job so that people in uniform can do theirs. We can actually do both, Tucker.”

Carlson, however, circled back to Gaetz’s previous suggestion that the president somehow supported Gaetz’s vote in favor of the House resolution. “Just to be totally clear,” the Fox host said, “you are one of three Republicans who voted, in effect, against the president’s stated position, but you just talked to the president and he said that he is on your side?”

“Well, the president probably would have preferred that I vote about with the other Republicans,” Gaetz conceded, before launching into a defense of the president that strongly implied Trump was making national security decisions based on how it would affect his re-election chances in 2020.  “He certainly said that I think on these broader questions of war and peace, Donald Trump understands that the pro-war candidate loses presidential elections. Hillary Clinton was more pro-war and lost. And if you look previously, it’s typically the anti-war candidates that win. I think since 9/11, John Kerry was the only anti-war candidate that lost an election. And so I think that the president understands that and he is too smart to let Nancy Pelosi try to cast him as the pro-war candidate and that’s why I don’t think we are going to war with Iran.”

Watch the videos above, via Fox News.