The Peace President...Really?

From the New Oxford Dictionary:
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peace | pēs | noun 
 
1 freedom from disturbance; tranquility
2 a state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended
 
Let us give credit to the Peace President for arranging the cease fire in Gaza.  The man deserves credit for that.  The war has gone on far, far too long.  I understand the Israeli position.  I don’t understand the Hamas position.  Hamas is a terrorist organization without a country to speak of.  The ideology of Hamas is what keeps Hamas alive and well.  For the Peace President to arrange a cease fire between the two combatants is amazing.  Now the rebuilding of Gaza, with is estimated to be eighty per cent destroyed and in rubble can be seen in the not-too-distant future.  The first priority must be humanitarian efforts for the people of Gaza…if Hamas allows it to happen.  This is a cease fire that I hope endures and the credit goes to the Peace President for arranging it.

The Peace President has indicated he has stopped seven other wars in time.  I have never read or heard about the other wars, whom the combatant countries were, or the outcome of each skirmish.  I would like to know about those.  Because if the President did truly stop those conflicts, then he has been performing his job of international peacemaker very well.  Except…

In recent weeks the United States military has been destroying boats on the open sea, on the order of the President.  The excuse given to the American public is the Venezuelan boats were carrying 1) drugs, which poison our citizens, and, 2) members of the gang Tren de Aragua.  This gang is a transnational criminal organization involved in a range of criminal  activities across Latin America and has expanded into the United States.  While I applaud the President’s decision to “protect” the citizens of the United States, I have a problem with his activities. 
 
The Peace President has offered no evidence to support his claims, other than to say, the United States has a covert operation going on in Venezuela that is providing information regarding the launching of these “drug boats” with gang members headed towards the United States.  Obviously, the Peace President cannot give up the names of those involved in the covert operations.  That would be the kiss of death for the operatives.  But the Peace President could offer evidence regarding his actions, other than a dictatorial “I said so”. 

The Peace President has said he is considering military action on the ground in Venezuela.  Most people understand, if one wants to eliminate a problem, “you go after the head of the snake”.  However, and this is my greatest concern…after attacking the Venezuelan boats on the open sea and then, hypothetically speaking of course, commit to a military attack on Venezuelan soil, the President has and will have committed an act of war, without Congressional approval.  Per the Constitution of the United States, only Congress can declare war.  It appears the Peace President will act on his own if a ground attack in Venezuela takes place.  That is the Peace President at work.

Is the Peace President’s rhetoric just “saber rattling” or does he intend to attack Venezuela?  The declared motivation is to stop the drugs and gang members from entering the US, but, is there a bigger fish to catch?  Namely Venezuelan oil, or ridding Venezuela from their current top political leader, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
 
From the U.S. Department of State website…
 
“Nicolás Maduro Moros became president of Venezuela following Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013 and declared victory in a presidential election in 2018.  In 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela invoked the Venezuelan constitution and declared that Maduro had usurped power and was not the president of Venezuela.  Since 2019, more than 50 countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state.
 
Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.  Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.
 
In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.”
 
Without question Maduro is an authoritarian who seemingly is also a criminal.  However, President Trump’s speech regarding an attack on Venezuelan soil is still a precursor to war.  And the Peace President cannot legally proceed with his efforts without approval from Congress.  If the Peace President doesn’t abide by the Constitution, which in my view he has violated numerous times, then he is no better than Maduro…an authoritarian leader.
 
The Peace President has opened a tariff “war” on an international level.  He has done this because other nations “have been ripping us off for years.”  This action by the President has caused a rise in international tension among those who trade with the United States.  I do not know if these tariffs would create a scenario where armed conflict may occur, but it is causing trade partners of the United States to trade with other countries instead of the United States.  And to add injury to insult, the President is using economic sanctions (what more could there be?) in an effort to stem Russia’s war effort in the Ukraine.
  
There is but one small problem, and again, it is with the protocol of the Constitution.  The power “regulate commerce with foreign nations”, rests with the Congress.  Therefore, it is the responsibility of Congress to establish tariffs required of foreign nations who wish to trade with the United States, not the Peace President.  Not only is this action outside the purview of the Peace President, but, internationally, it dictates the United States foreign policy to become one of “do as I want, or suffer trade sanctions and tariffs”.  This is the Peace President at work.  It is also the work of an authoritarian head of the government.
 
On the domestic scene, the efforts of the Peace President have been wide and varied.  The Peace President has launched a massive deportation program; the Peace President has attacked universities for what they have or have not done;  The Peace President has offered to nine universities easy access to federal funding if the universities agree to promote the a more conservative doctrine.  So far, none of the universities, the University of Arizona included, have agreed to support this initiative.

However, the most alarming to me is the use of the National Guard being sent into cities here in the United States to “clean up” those hell holes.  Unfortunately, these actions in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, Memphis, and Chicago may very well be illegal.  I see it as an act of taking over for no other reason except to show the Peace President has unbridled power…something an authoritarian head of state would use. 
 
The Posse Comitatus Act passed by Congress in 1878 makes it illegal to use the military to be used for law enforcement against American citizens.  Generally speaking, the Governor of a state usually asks the President to send the National Guard if the police departments are overwhelmed.  There are exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act.  The President may call out the National Guard to:

• Restore public order and enforce federal law when a natural disaster, epidemic, or serious public health incident takes place, or a terrorist attack, or,
• Domestic violence has taken place to the extent the State or local authorities cannot maintain public order, or
• Suppress an insurrection, domestic violence, or violence that may hinder the enforcement of law, or
• Ensure that any class of people may not be deprived of rights, privileges, immunity or protection as named in the Constitution or secured by law, or
• Ensure there is not obstruction of, or impedes the course of justice under law

 
A great example of the exception clause of the Posse Comitatus Act was the time President Eisenhower used the Arkansas National Guard and the 101st Airborne Division to ensure integration in Little Rock Central High School would take place.  In 1957, nine black student’s rights as citizens of the United States were being denied, even after Brown v. Topeka was decided in 1954.  Eisenhower used the exception(s) of the Posse Comitatus Act to guarantee 1st class citizenship to those nine black students.
 
So, the question that begs to be answered is, which of these exceptions apply to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, Memphis, and Chicago?  What exceptions of the Posse Comitatus Act apply to the actions of the Peace President?
 
The President has stated that crime is up in each of the aforementioned cities, but, the local officials have offered statistics which say the opposite.  Who is the public left to believe?  The local and state officials, who all happen to be of the opposite political party of the Peace President?  Or maybe the Authoritarian President?  To this person, it appears the Peace President is waging a degree of war on American citizens.
 
To this person, the Peace President has weaponized the Department of Justice against his political opponents.  The DOJ and the Attorney General is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.  It is generally thought to be apolitical, because the law and justice is to be applied equally to all without political bias.  However…
 
In September of this year, the Peace President sent a message to his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, on his Truth Social account.  Unfortunately for the Peace President and the Attorney General, the text message was made public.  Oops!  
 
The post pressured Bondi to prosecute his political rivals, including former Trump appointee FBI Director James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.  The message included the following:

• "We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility".
• "nothing is being done" against Comey, Schiff, and James, who he called "guilty as hell".
• The Peace President cited his past impeachments and indictments, claiming they were "OVER NOTHING".
• The post ended with a demand for immediate action: "JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!". 

Was the Peace President dictating whom should be arrested and indicted?  Only an authoritarian head of state would do that.
 
As things played out, the U.S. attorney in Virginia, Erik Siebert resigned his position after receiving pressure from the Peace President to charge the President’s political opponents, because in Siebert’s words, there wasn’t enough evidence to gain a conviction.  Upon Seibert’s resignation, Bondi installed Trump's former defense attorney, Lindsey Halligan, an insurance attorney, as the U.S. attorney in Virginia to advance the cases.  Comey and James have since been indicted and both have plead not guilty to the alleged crimes. 
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And, another foe of the Peace President, former Trump appointment for National Security Advisor John Bolton has also been indicted.  The indictment accuses Bolton of illegally transmitting National Defense Information by using personal email and messaging application accounts to send sensitive documents classified as high as Top Secret. These documents revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations.
  
So, one must ask, is all of this true?  Is the Peace President truly the Peace President as he dictates whom to prosecute?  As he dictates the military into cities, that according to mayors and state’s governors, is not needed?  As he dictates to the military to destroy boats on the open sea without empirical evidence that can be shared?

Peace, now there is an interesting word…that is why I have begun this article with its definition.  Please read it again.

Dictates…now there is an interesting word as well.

That is just one man’s opinion.  What is yours?