Fishermen sail near Caraballeda, Venezuela, on September 24, 2025. Venezuelan fishermen are taking precautions in response to American military actions that have targeted vessels U.S. officials say are part of drug trafficking operations.

You would think a man who keeps lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize would not go around picking deadly fights. But President Donald J. Trump has already gotten the U.S. into one war — war in all but the name — and is poised to start another.

Where is Congress? Missing in action.

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The first war arguably started Jan. 20, when Mr. Trump issued an executive order designating certain drug cartels and other entities as “foreign terrorist organizations,” among them the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua and La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a Salvadoran gang that was founded in Los Angeles. But Mr. Trump’s war noticeably ramped up on Sept. 1, when he had the U.S. military start blowing up boats in the Caribbean (and later in the Pacific Ocean) suspected of transporting drugs.

It's now more than 80 days since Mr. Trump engaged the military in a so far one-sided shooting war that has claimed an estimated 83 lives. That’s 23 days beyond the 60-day limit established in the War Powers Act of 1973 for a president to send U.S. troops into hostilities without Congress’........

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