Military action unnerves GOP libertarians, Dems

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s military strike against Syria drew strong pushback from an odd mix of libertarian Republicans, Democrats and the far-right conservatives who have long insisted on Congress’ constitutional authority for acts of war.

Mr. Trump burnished an “America first” foreign policy during his 2016 campaign, warning that rival Hillary Clinton would dangerously order U.S. soldiers into international conflicts.

He was often critical of former President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis in 2013 and urged him at the time to seek congressional approval for any military action.

But the president said Thursday night that the airstrikes were in the “vital national security interest” of the U.S. and accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of having “choked” his own citizens in a chemical attack.

Mr. Trump’s decision to launch the airstrikes on a Syrian military base represented an about-face at the start of his presidency and angered Republicans and Democrats, who said the Constitution gave Congress sole power to declare war.

They urged Mr. Trump to come to Congress to get authorization for military force.

“The Constitution is very clear that war originates in the legislature,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a leader of the party’s non-interventionist wing who challenged Mr. Trump for the GOP nomination.

Mr. Paul, who called the Syria strike unconstitutional, said Friday before a closed-door briefing for lawmakers that they weren’t learning about the intelligence that led the president to order the strike until the day after the missiles were launched.

“You vote before you go to war, not after you go to war,” Mr. Paul told reporters.

Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., said, “If there’s no strategy on Syria, he clearly made this decision based off of an emotional reaction to the images on TV, and it should worry everyone about the quixotic nature of this administration’s foreign policy.”

Republican leaders, many of whom back a more hawkish view of foreign policy, praised Mr. Trump’s actions, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Any attempt by Mr. Trump to push a new war powers resolution through Congress would be difficult.

Mr. Obama asked lawmakers two years ago to formally authorize war against the Islamic State group, but they never acted on the proposal.