Indivisibles,

This isn’t the email we hoped we’d be sending you today or any day for that matter.

Late last night, Trump ordered the assassination of a top commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Qassim Suleimani (see The New York Times report here), with no authorization from Congress. Along with the Major General, the drone strike killed four others, not all of whom have yet been named.

What do I need to know?

• Trump ordered a drone strike outside Baghdad’s international airport last night that killed a powerful foreign military leader. Any assassination is a big deal, but by way of context, in the US, this would be something like a foreign government assassinating the Vice President outside the Toronto airport. 

• Trump is taking us to unnecessary war. When Trump entered office in 2016, he inherited one of the best chances we’ve had in decades for peaceful relations with Iran. Three years later, with a cabinet full of warmongers, he’s now assassinating Iranian leaders. (Read more from our partners at Win Without War here). 

• This wasn’t a defensive action. The idea that this strike will prevent future attacks on Americans and our interests around the world defies logic. It. Will. Not. If anything, our risk just went up tenfold (Senator Chris Murphy gets it right in this tweet). The same voices who sold the disastrous Iraq War will have hot takes about how this was a critical defensive action in the coming days -- don’t be fooled.

• This is possible because Congress let it happen. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says, "Congress shall have power to ... declare War." But Congress has ceded authority over the military to the Executive Branch. That’s why for years we’ve been calling on Congress to reassert its constitutional authority, and why we’ll continue to do so.

With nothing more than an empty statement from the Pentagon and a (bonkers) tweet of an American flag, Trump is transparently and unequivocally gambling with the safety of the American people and pulling us to the brink of war with Iran. And we don’t even know why he did it -- unless this tweet he sent in 2011 about Obama offers a little clue.

What can I do right now? 

Though they don’t always act like it, Congress is a co-equal branch of government that holds tremendous power to check Trump’s recklessness. So they must step in immediately. This situation will evolve over the next few days, but right now the most important thing every Member of Congress can do is to clearly and unequivocally state that they condemn this strike and are opposed to war with Iran. We can’t overstate how critical this is. We are on the precipice of war, and Congress is perhaps our only hope of stopping it. 

Click here right now to call your Members of Congress and tell them to do everything in their power to rein in Trump’s catastrophic escalation. 

We’ll keep you updated as news develops and congressional asks become more clear.

This movement began to stop the Trump agenda -- this is what we’re here for. We’re proud to be indivisible with all of you.

In solidarity,

Indivisible Team