Republicans give Trump a free pass on the war on Iran | This is America

In this episode of This is America, hosted by Cyril Vanier, Al Jazeera asks how the US president has been able to wage war on Iran without fresh approval from Congress – and why Republicans are still giving him a free pass as a crucial legal deadline looms.

From Washington, Vanier explains that under the War Powers Resolution the president can deploy troops for just 60 days without authorisation; that clock runs out in one week. Support for the war is slipping, the president’s approval is “in the firing line”, Republican approval of Congress has tanked and the military is seeking an extra $200bn, even as voters feel the impact in higher living costs and petrol prices. Yet from the start of the war, most Republicans on Capitol Hill have backed him.

Phil Lavelle goes back to first principles with “Congress” and “the Constitution” in hand. He explains that only Congress can declare war, notes it has not done so since World War II, and shows that there is no new authorisation for this conflict with Iran. He sets out how presidents have relied on broad commander‑in‑chief powers and how the War Powers Resolution – passed after Vietnam – requires notification within 48 hours and limits deployments to 60 days, with a narrow extension to withdraw troops safely. That means Congress must now decide whether to let the war continue or insist it stops.

Vanier then tracks how Congress has responded so far: six war‑powers votes since the strikes on Iran began, four in the Senate and two in the House – all of them unsuccessful at curbing the president’s authority. But the margin in the House has shrunk from seven votes to just one, a sign that Republican unity is fraying.

Mike Hanna at the White House and Patty Culhane on Capitol Hill pick up the political story. Culhane details how the Cook Political Report has shifted several Senate races towards Democrats, driven largely by public anger over gas prices that have jumped by more than a dollar since the war began. She reports that some Republicans now openly say they will not “rubber stamp” a $200bn war request. Hanna explains why, even though the president is not on the ballot, his ability to govern depends on Republicans holding Congress – and how rising prices and an affordability crisis could derail that.

John Holman reports from Washington on Congress’s failure so far to stop the war and the brewing clash over a record $1.5tn Pentagon budget, as veterans protesting inside the Capitol warn that inaction has life‑and‑death consequences for US troops and, in far greater numbers, Iranians.

In the studio, Democratic strategist Roger Fisk and Republican strategist Rob Arlett debate whether the Iran war is a “double‑edged sword” for the president’s party. Arlett argues Republican voters still back the war for now but admits that if it drags on into the summer without clear gains, it will be “very, very problematic” for Republicans in November. Fisk says Democrats cannot simply wait for the war to damage the president; they must show voters how Iran policy feeds into prices at the pump, costs for farmers and wider economic pain, while making the case that Congress has abdicated its constitutional role.

Finally, Alex Baird follows the to‑and‑fro on social media as the congressional fight spills online. He shows Democrats calling Republicans “cowards” for refusing to rein in Trump’s war powers, Republicans demanding loyalty to the commander‑in‑chief and branding dissenters “with the enemy”, and a Congress that, for now, is still refusing to limit the president’s power to wage war.

As the War Powers deadline approaches, This is America asks whether Republicans in Congress will enforce the rules that are supposed to govern war – or continue to let the president fight in Iran without a new mandate, with American democracy and the constitutional balance of powers on the line.

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