Key Republicans in Congress, who have the ability to limit President Donald Trump’s military powers, generally believe he possesses the freedom to initiate strikes as he sees fit.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan conveyed to the Daily Mail that Trump has the ultimate say on military actions, stating, “He’s the commander in chief.” Referring to Trump’s actions in Venezuela, Jordan remarked, “I think what he did there is commendable.”

When queried further about Trump’s authority to launch attacks globally without restriction, the Ohio representative acknowledged, “The president could present his reasoning, and we would proceed accordingly.”

Trump did not seek Congressional approval before targeting Venezuela to remove its former leader, Nicolas Maduro, nor did he consult them before considering strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites earlier this year. These decisions were made autonomously, albeit with some input from his Cabinet.

Brian Mast, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, affirmed to the Daily Mail that Trump’s actions are within his constitutional purview, allowing him to strike anywhere on the planet at his discretion.

According to Mast, a Republican from Florida, “Based on his Article Two authority, if there’s a credible and imminent threat to the United States, then yes, he absolutely has that right.”

As for Trump’s veiled threats to conduct military operations in countries with flourishing drug production industries, like Mexico, well, Congress does not seem concerned with holding the president back.

‘They’re on the menu,’ Mast said of Mexico. ‘I think it’s a coin flip between them and people in Cuba.’

President Donald Trump should be allowed to strike other countries at his discretion, the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs chairmen told the Daily Mail

Drug cartels have wrecked violence in Mexico for decades and Republicans and Trump have noted that they are the ones really in control of the country, not government officials 

Mast then noted how he had a friend who went missing while traveling to Mexico, underscoring how dangerous the country has been for decades. 

‘Long story short, they found him like six months later, divided up into a couple separate garbage bags.’ 

Trump said Thursday that the cartels are ‘running Mexico’ and soon the US will start hitting land targets there. 

‘We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels,’ he said. ‘The cartels are running Mexico, it’s very sad to watch, to see what’s happening to that country.’

Outside of a select number of Republicans and mostly all the Democrats, there seems to be little appetite on the right to hold Trump back from launching additional strikes.

However, the Senate voted to curb his ability to engage in further military actions in Venezuela during a procedural move this week. 

Still, the move to restrict Trump will need another vote in the Senate and yet another in the House to become law and meaningfully hamper the president’s war powers. 

The odds of that happening are slim – though there are some Republicans who want to limit Trump. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the Daily Mail that striking other countries should not be a unilateral decision made by the president 

Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, who formerly headed the House Intelligence Committee before Trump demanded Speaker Mike Johnson to remove him, told the Daily Mail ‘no’ Trump does not have the authority to strike anywhere at will. 

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, said the founding fathers did not intend for one person to have sole power over launching wars. 

‘The Constitution is specifically designed to avoid an instance where any one branch has unilateral power, and most specifically that the President himself does not have power to just launch any war with any person whenever he feels like it, that this is something that we must do as a with consensus as a nation,’ she told the Daily Mail.