President Trump praised as ‘80-percent friend’
Rome Tea Party members question the constitutionality of the president’s recent missile strikes.
Support for President Donald Trump was unwavering at the monthly Rome Tea Party gathering Tuesday — despite mixed feelings about his recent missile strikes in Syria and Afghanistan.
“When it first happened I thought, ‘Right on! Do it, Donald,’” said Mike Morton, one of the organization’s founders. “Then I thought, ‘Wait. That’s a violation of the Constitution.’”
At issue is a bedrock principle drawn from the document the group holds dear: The president has the power to wage war, but the authority to declare war is vested in Congress.
A dozen or so members talked it out during the Lunch Bunch meeting at Fuddruckers, circling around the question of if the president’s actions were legal and how that affected their view of him.
Benny Terry was willing to give Trump the benefit of a doubt.
“As long as he doesn’t take it further without going to Congress,” he said.
After U.S. forces fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria on April 7, Pentagon and Trump administration officials initially described the strike as a “one-off” operation aimed solely at preventing further use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
More recently, the administration has shifted the message, using the missile strike and last week’s bombing of Islamic State tunnel complex in Afghanistan to send a warning to North Korea and other potential adversaries.
“I love Donald Trump, but I think Syria contradicts what he said during his campaign — that we’re not going to be the world’s policeman,” attorney Jeff Kelly said. “We don’t have the resources … and I don’t like the idea of a foreign war.”
William Harper, who works for Kelly and has studied constitutional law, said he’s from the Rand Paul wing of the party. He also decried “the use of unauthorized military force,” but said the issue is more complicated than it seems.
“Congress likes to have it both ways,” Harper said, adding that while representatives and senators may support action, they have a history of letting the president take the heat.
“The Iraq resolution (authorizing the use of force in 2002) came back to bite them when they ran for re-election,” he said. “It’s going to make them gun-shy from here on out.”
Terry noted that President Barack Obama requested authorization to go to war against ISIS in 2015, but Congress refused.
“Do you think that’s why Trump didn’t go to them?” he asked.
The discussion touched on several points, with Harper arguing that ISIS is not a nation-state to declare war against — “If we beat them, who’s going to sign the treaty?” Morton pointed out that there were no declarations of war with Korea, Vietnam, Grenada or Libya, yet there were clear needs for action. But he also sounded a warning.
“We do not have the authority to amend the Constitution by violating it,” he said.
In the end, though, distaste for Trump’s use of military force did not translate into distaste for Trump.
Kelly said he also disagrees with some other things the president has done, but he likes his attitude and feels Trump supports working Americans. And Morton said it would likely take a buildup of constitutional violations before any of Trump’s voters regret their decision.
“As our greatest president Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘My 80-percent friend is not my 20-percent enemy,’” Morton said.