Tom Nichols

I had exactly the same thought you did, David, which is great.

Now he's going to say I'm a war president.

That means you can't criticize me.

It means I can stomp on the press.

It means that I can declare a national emergency.

Maybe as the British Parliament said in 1944, I think it was, this is not a propitious time for an election.

There's all kinds of mischief that comes with a war.

Because as you say, presidential war powers, especially once a conflict is underway, become almost unchallengeable.

What presidential powers does he not make wicked use of is really the way to put it.

Why would anyone assume that this is the set of powers that he will use with prudence and responsibility, especially when you cannot trust the rationale behind this war?

There was no gathering of allies.

I mean, you know, Bush 43 took a lot of static for the way he went into Iraq compared to this.

That was lawyered up like a corporate merger compared to what Donald Trump has done going to the UN, going to Congress, getting all those ducks in the row, going back to the UN a second time, even though, as you know, President Bush didn't want to do that that second time around.

There's none of that here.

And so I don't trust why this war was launched in the first place.

Right now, all I can say is our men and women are in action, and I wish them every success and to come home safely.

But that doesn't mean that we should stop asking questions about things like curtailing the president's war powers, because he will abuse them because –

I can say with confidence he will abuse them because he has abused all the other powers of his office.

And these are the most tempting powers there are.

Let me steel man this for a minute.