Who's allowed to launch an attack on another country? Just asking questions.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) joined Reason's Just Asking Questions podcast to discuss the War Powers Resolution he's co-sponsored with Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), which would require President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before continuing to drop bombs in Iran. He also discussed Trump's remarks that the governments of Israel and Iran "don't know what the fuck they are doing" after they ignored his call for a ceasefire, whether or not the administration likely destroyed Iran's nuclear program, and why he's eager to work with the antiestablishment right to rein in war powers and get corrupt money out of Congress. 

Chapters:

00:00 —Podcast theme

00:28 —Introducing the War Powers Resolution and Iran airstrikes

05:19 —Trump's war instincts and the MAGA anti-war base

10:10 —The diplomatic alternative to military action on Iran

15:48 —Israel-Iran ceasefire and Trump's response

19:30 —Trump's influence over Netanyahu and Middle East peace prospects

23:05 —The bipartisan push to rein in executive war powers

27:33 —The Democratic Party's anti-war identity crisis

30:29 —Building left-right anti-establishment alliances

34:11 —Rebuilding trust in government and American purpose

39:49 —Reform priorities: money in politics and war powers

Transcript:

This is an AI-generated transcript. Check against the original before quoting.

Liz Wolfe: Who's allowed to launch an attack on another country? Just Asking Questions. Representative Ro Khanna of California is here with us today to talk about his War Powers Resolution that he's co-sponsoring with Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who's also been a guest on the show many times before, which would require President Trump to seek congressional approval before continuing to drop bombs in Iran. Congressman Khanna, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Rep. Ro Khanna: Thank you for having me.

Zach Weissmueller: So, here's the text of your resolution. It says: 

Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And you list a few facts such as that "Congress has the sole power to declare war," "Congress has not declared war." Therefore, "forces shall be removed by the president if Congress so directs." And the kind of summary statement here is: 

Congress hereby directs the president to terminate the use of the United States armed forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.

So given that Trump has already dropped bombs on Iranian nuclear sites without consulting Congress, what are you worried could still transpire at this point if Congress doesn't act to pass this or the similar bill in the Senate being offered by Tim Kaine?

Khanna: There's a fight for Donald Trump's decision-making here. And the fight is between the neocons—people like Lindsey Graham, who want regime change in Iran; people like Netanyahu, who want regime change in Iran; people like Brett McGurk, who have been itching for that kind of regime change, who cheer-led for the war in Iraq. And on the other side, there is the lot in the MAGA base who do not want another war in the Middle East, who do not want more of our money spent in missiles in Iran or troops in the Middle East.

And we saw that Donald Trump was listening to both, in every day. Now, I believe that it was our war powers resolution and the activism of the MAGA base and other voices that convinced him not to escalate after the strikes. But he could be persuaded again to go in or say, "Well, we didn't destroy enough of the nuclear facility" or "we didn't get all the nuclear fuel." And that's why it's important that he hear from the anti-war base of his own party and from the country.

Wolfe: It seems like this is kind of an opportunity to give Trump some amount of credit, if I may be so bold, because in the past, we've seen many Republican administrations that are much more firmly planted on the neocon side. Whereas it's almost like Trump has devils on his shoulders and angels on his shoulders—you know, depending on your bona fides, you can decide which side is which. But there's a real push and pull, a real tension within him as to whether the sort of neocon wing or the very anti-war wing should win out. Are you heartened to see this tension present in a Republican president right now?

Khanna: I appreciate that he didn't escalate and that we have a ceasefire. I agree with you that there is a tension within his base. I do think that many people in his base felt let down that he struck initially in Iran. That's not what they voted for. It's the first time I saw any real crack in his base. I mean, the tariffs upset some of the business leaders, but this really upset people who voted for him, who said, "You're not prioritizing us. You're not prioritizing jobs here. You're engaged in the same kind of war games that other presidents have."

But the place, though, that I would hope that he'd develop is that it's not enough to stay out of war. You also have to engage in top diplomacy. And the reality is I believe that we need to deny Iran a nuclear weapon. We shouldn't have gotten out, in my opinion, of the JCPOA. At the very least, we should have worked within it to strengthen it. We did get out; that led to enrichment. And now the question is, how are we going to prevent Iran from racing to the nuclear bomb? And there, I think that the president needs to engage in diplomacy that previous Republican presidents, actually, like Bush Sr. and even Ronald Reagan, had more of a commitment to. We haven't seen that from the president.

Weissmueller: I want to bring up a tweet from one of your colleagues here. This is Congressman Greg Steube from Florida, he's a Republican, because I think he lays out the case for why he thinks Trump should have taken this action and why he legally is allowed to take this action. He says that:

"President Trump has full constitutional authority to take military action against Iran's nuclear program without a formal declaration of war. Article II, Section 2 empowers the Commander in Chief to use the armed forces to defend national interests and respond to imminent threats. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 allows a 60-day window plus a 30-day withdrawal period as long as Congress is notified within 48 hours." 

Presumably he's saying that Iran having a nuclear bomb itself posed an imminent threat to U.S. security, therefore justifying this unilateral action. What'