Where are the Democrats?

They could have invoked the War Powers Act weeks ago.

When Trump used naked military force to seize hold of the Venezuelan government and the country’s oil, Congressional Democrats and party leaders had only one beef — they wanted congressional authorization for the war.

Leadership is especially quiet.

My scan of the news found some strong reactions from rank‑and‑file members, but little from Schumer, Jeffries, or Pelosi, and nothing from major committee chairs. Across Politico, The Hill, Al Jazeera, ABC News, and CBS News, some Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Trump’s attack, but they are doing so almost entirely through one narrow frame: They weren’t consulted first.

Only one small progressive faction of the Party, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, issued substantive, anti‑war, anti‑regime‑change statements. The Progressive International, where New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a Cabinet member, issued the strongest condemnation of all:

They called the U.S. attack “a criminal act of imperial aggression,” condemned the bombing of residential neighborhoods, and described the kidnapping of Maduro as “imperial lawlessness.”

Everyone else stuck to procedural complaints.

There’s hardly been a peep about civilian casualties, Venezuelan sovereignty, the criminality of kidnapping a foreign head of state, or the global implications of the U.S. “takeover.”

Instead, they are hammering on only one theme: the War Powers Act, which has never been used to approve an American war, since it was enacted in 1973.

In fact, if they wanted to, Senate Democrats could have brought such a resolution to the floor weeks ago. To block Trump’s military action in Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution, the Senate needed only a simple majority — 51 votes — to pass a privileged resolution. That’s a resolution that gets special fast‑track treatment under the War Powers Resolution — meaning Congress can force a vote, bypass leadership bottlenecks, and bring it directly to the floor for action

Democrats and a handful of libertarian Republicans could have done it.

Fred Klonsky art.

Democrats didn’t do it because they were not unified—many quietly supported regime change. They overwhelmingly avoided criticizing the goal of removing Maduro and focused only on process objections. Leadership was not willing to force the issue.

Only now that Trump has committed his criminal assault on the peoples of Venezuela and Latin America, killed dozens (possibly hundreds) of civilians, and kidnapped the president and his wife, is there talk about a war powers resolution.

Is it too late?

Even after hostilities begin, Congress can still pass a resolution ordering the President to terminate U.S. involvement within 30 days. Even now, Congress could prohibit further strikes, cut off funding for continued operations, and force public debate and hearings.

But will they? I doubt it. Once a president has launched a major operation, Congress always becomes more reluctant to intervene. Think Iraq or Afghanistan.

Even if it passes, Congress has never successfully forced a president to stop an ongoing war under the War Powers Resolution, and this is the weakest Congress in modern history. Legally, the barn door is still open. Politically, the horse is already halfway down the road.

Once again, it’s up to us to end it.