Congress Tries to Lock Trump’s Hands Over Iran, But the Experts Say It’s Just a Symbolic Slap on the Wrist
The Senate passed a joint resolution to stop the war, but with no real legal teeth, Trump is already calling it a 'meaningless' move.
The political drama in D.C. just hit a whole new level of messy. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate went ahead and voted 50-48 on a resolution telling President Trump he needs to pack it up and halt the war in Iran unless he gets real permission from Congress first. A few Republicans actually jumped ship and voted with the Democrats to get this passed, following the exact same move the House made earlier this month.
But before anyone thinks the war is officially over, let’s keep it 100: this vote is mostly just for show. Because they passed a "concurrent resolution" instead of a regular law, it doesn't go to Trump's desk to get signed, meaning it has zero legal power. Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst, broke it down plain and simple, telling the BBC that this whole situation is "more of a slap on a wrist than a handcuff" because it can't legally bind the president to do anything.
Trump was not about to sit back and take the disrespect quietly. He hopped right onto Truth Social on Tuesday night to let everybody know he thinks the vote is a joke. Trump claimed he has Iran "on the 'ropes'" and ready to go down, calling the Senate's move a "poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act Vote." He complained that the senators are just making his job harder, but promised his followers, "I will get it done, one way or the other, because I always get it done!"
This whole showdown is happening because this five-month-old war in Iran is getting seriously unpopular, and the conflict is basically frozen right now. People are tired of the fighting, and even some of Trump's usual allies in Congress are starting to look sideways at the peace plan he agreed to with Iran. Meanwhile, things are still hot in the region—the UN is literally trying to get stranded sailors out of the Strait of Hormuz, and Senator Marco Rubio is warning people not to pay illegal tolls to get through.
This is actually the first time since the War Powers Resolution of 1973 was passed that both chambers of Congress have managed to pass a resolution like this telling a president to stop a military action. Michael Glennon, a law professor at Tufts University, said that even though this vote doesn't change anything on the ground, it’s still a "watershed event" politically. He pointed out that having both houses of Congress—which are run by Republicans—stand up and tell a Republican president "no" is almost unheard of.
Glennon also noted that Trump is famous for getting revenge on any Republican who dares to cross him, which makes the vote by those few GOP senators a pretty risky move. But with the November midterm elections coming up fast, some of these politicians are trying to play both sides. Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, explained that a few Republicans are trying to show they are "independent" from Trump so they can win over moderate voters who are tired of the war.
But Entin also warned that these politicians can't push Trump too far. Trump still has a massive, loyal following among the Republican base, and if a candidate acts like they aren't riding hard enough for the president, those core voters will easily freeze them out. So while some politicians are trying to act tough with this symbolic vote, they are still on a very tight leash because nobody wants to lose their seat in November.
So at the end of the day, the politicians in D.C. get to run to the cameras and act like they did something big, while the president is going to keep doing whatever he wants anyway. It’s the same old political game where the people at the top make a lot of noise, but on the ground, nothing really changes. We'll just have to wait and see if anyone actually has the heart to turn these symbolic slaps into real handcuffs.
