A Major Blow To Trump: Senate Says Historic No To American Imperialism – OpEd |
The beginning of 2026 has been the hottest geopolitical start of the decade. At the center of this chaos and disorder sits the main instigator in the Oval Office of the White House. Donald Trump has seriously stirred up the situation both internationally and domestically. He attacked Venezuela, overthrew and arrested its president Nicolás Maduro, and then continued threatening Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and other Latin American countries. He seeks to exert some form of control over all of them, reviving the Monroe Doctrine, which holds that the U.S. has the right to dominion over North and South America. Trump simultaneously threatens to annex Greenland and carry out a military intervention against Iran, claiming that in geopolitics he is guided not by international law but only by his own moral compass.
Adding fuel to the fire, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been carrying out mass arrests across the country, sometimes without any legal basis, targeting individuals they claim are illegal immigrants. These operations have included crimes such as the murder of poet Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. The killing of a woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time has sparked new major protests in the U.S., a topic warranting separate analysis.
Although Trumpism and MAGA seem at their peak and 47th U.S. President appears untouchable, Trump’s power is relative. As much as he would like to be, he is not an all-powerful dictator. His power is limited and could quickly evaporate under certain circumstances (e.g., undisclosed Epstein documents and other revelations). We now have a chance to witness this. A significant blow to Trump came on Thursday, January 8, when the U.S. Senate approved a resolution that would limit further armed attacks on Venezuela. Senators pushed back against expansionist American policy in the Western Hemisphere, outlined in the new U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) released in early December.
Senators voted 52-47 to initiate the War Powers Resolution, securing a final vote on its adoption next week. This was a surprise, as Republicans hold a Senate majority with 53 members versus 47 Democrats and 2 independents. However, five Republicans joined the Democrats to push the resolution forward.........