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Friends — I want to share my thoughts with you after news broke this morning that President Trump ordered an unauthorized military attack on Venezuela.
However terrible Maduro is, Trump’s unauthorized attack on Venezuela to arrest him is a dangerous and deeply troubling return to a time when the U.S. asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.
That history is replete with failures. Doubling down on it makes it difficult to claim with a straight face that other countries should respect U.S. sovereignty — when we do not do the same.
Where will this go next? Will Trump deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies?
Trump has threatened all this and more — and sees no need to seek legal authorization from the people’s elected Congress before putting our servicemembers at risk.
Congress must reassert our critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy, and trade.
My bipartisan War Powers Resolution — declaring that we should not be at war with Venezuela absent a clear congressional authorization — will come up for a vote next week, and I strongly urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this necessary legislation.
2026 marks the 250th year of American democracy — we cannot now allow it to devolve into the very tyranny that our founders fought to escape.
Thank you for reading. I’ll continue to update you as we learn more.
—Tim Kaine
Paid for by Kaine for Virginia
1490-5A Quarterpath Road #272
Williamsburg, VA 23185
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