Trump’s imperial presidency is thriving — and Congress is his 'rubber stamp': report

Congress has become the "rubber stamp" for President Donald Trump, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) complained as he watches "a Congress without ambition."

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Paul is frustrated with the ease with which his party has acquiesced to Trump, particularly when it comes to his new war against Iran.

"But I think [James] Madison never imagined or envisioned a Congress with no ambition,” Paul said. “This is a Congress without ambition. This is a Congress without really a belief structure in defending legislative prerogative. They just are a rubber stamp for whatever a president tells them to do.”

The one major change in recent years has been a Congress willing to give up its control, particularly when it comes to issues where the parties are at a stalemate, explained Molly Reynolds, Brookings Institution's vice president and director of governance studies.

“Members of Congress in both parties have been willing to give up their institutional power to the executive branch because it is hard to legislate in Congress,” said Reynolds. “And the partisanship and polarization makes it hard for parties to get the things it wants to get done, done.”

It has given Trump an opening to take advantage of the GOP inaction over legislation that they know they can't pass.

The Post cited Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has been open about his refusal to reassert congressional authority.

“I have no intention of getting in the way of President Trump and his administration,” he said in late January about Trump's trade war. “He has used the tariff power that he has ... very effectively.”

The Supreme Court disagreed, striking down some of Trump's tariffs, saying that it overstepped congressional authority.

In his majority opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch could have been responding to Johnson directly.

“Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design,” he said.

When asked if he intends to step in after the Court ruling, Johnson replied, “I don’t have to.”

Congress hasn't technically declared war since World War II, the report noted. The Vietnam War was a "congressionally authorized counteroffensive. The Korean War was referred to as a "police action" under the authority of the United Nations. The first and second Iraq Wars are identified as "military action" and "armed conflict," respectively, with the latter identified as part of the so-called "War on Terror." After the Sept. 11, 2021 attacks, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), handing a blank check for the so-called "War on Terror." While Trump might call it "war," the Iran War is being mocked as a "preemptive retaliatory de-escalation action."

Paul was the only Republican Senator to vote against the bill giving Trump the power to wage war against Iran.

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