Top GOP House Trump Supporter Betrays Trump, Votes with Dems

0
5406
Joint Session of Congress
Photo Courtesy of Lucas via Creative Commons License

To say most conservatives were stunned when the votes were cast in the House on the War Power Act is an understatement.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), arguably the most pro-Trump House member in Congress, sided with Dems to vote “yes” on the War Powers Act put on the House floor by the Democrats.

Shocking Vote

I have listened to Gaetz explain himself time and again on this issue, but I still think he made a major mistake by siding with the Dems on this one.

Prior to the vote, Gaetz went on the floor to inform his fellow Republicans he would be supporting this piece of legislation.

Here is what he had to say…

He then did radio and TV spots to further explain himself.

Here is one of those clips…

He appeared on Tucker Carlson last night as well, where he stated that he discussed his reasoning with Trump and quite frankly, his argument is a good one, but this piece of legislation is not something conservatives or Republicans thought was needed.

Now, I have not read through the resolution yet, but my early understanding of the bill is that Trump will no longer be able to carry out drone strikes or other military operations in the region now unless he has congressional approval, which is absurd. 

Many of these operations are given the “go” signal and carried out within hours of intelligence reports. 

If my understanding of the bill is correct (and I will read it in full as soon as I have the opportunity to do so), from what I have read in the media so far is that will no longer be possible, severely restricting the effectiveness of our military and special operators in the region. 

Gaetz was being raked over the coals for this vote, and he should be, because he has now armed Democrats with more fodder.

While I personally do not remember what Gaetz’s Twitter numbers were prior to the tweet, there were reports that he lost a considerable amount of his following after his vote.

Now people are starting to wonder if Gaetz is a RINO or if he truly stands behind Trump.

Trump Never Wanted a War

Constitutionally, the president of this country must engage with Congress if he is going to conduct an act that could result in a war.

The Democrats believe the strike against Soleimani was one such act, which is why they pushed this resolution to further support their narrative.

That strike, however, was nothing of the kind.

Trump did not and does not want war.

I firmly believe if we were pushed to the point of having to go to war, he would engage with Congress for approval.

This was a strike against a terrorist target, just as he has carried out before and just as Obama carried out during his time in office.

Quite frankly, if Democrats wanted to put a War Powers Act against a president, it should have been Obama, who regularly carried out strikes that killed civilians, acts that very well could have started wars.

Trump has been very selective when carrying out attacks and even called off a previous strike when he found out it could have collateral damage of as many as 150 civilians.

This is a political stunt being carried out by Democrats and sadly, the vote by Gaetz and the other two Republicans that voted in favor of the legislation now allows the Democrats to tout the fact they have bipartisan support in reigning in Trump.