Today’s Action: Take away Trump’s terrifying power to unilaterally wage war

Thanks to the #FakeNationalEmergency forcing through campaign-promise border wall, we’ve seen first-hand Trump’s utter disregard for any balance of power in Washington. Add to that, he’s surrounded by war hawks — and notorious for his own compulsive, ill-informed decision-making. Put it all together, it’s terrifying that Trump has the power to take unilateral military action, thanks to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

The United States entered into an endless war on September 14th, 2001. On that day, Congress issued an AUMF, which gave then-President Bush the ability to use force against nations, organizations, or people he determined were in any way involved in the September 11th attacks. For the last 18 years, in practice, that has meant that the president can direct the United States into war with any one at any time without congressional approval.
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With Trump erratically in command, it is even more vital that we finally repeal the AUMF.

Call or email your Members of Congress and demand a repeal of the AUMF. Place the power to declare war back into the hands of Congress, where it constitutionally belongs.

Presidents Bush and Obama used the AUMF at least 37 times in 14 countries to justify military force, often against groups that did not even exist on September 11th. Trump is using AUMF to keep troops in Syria and Iraq indefinitely — also uninvolved in the 9/11 attacks. With Trump carrying on, we can now confirm that the AUMF has been used to invade at least 19 countries since 2001.

And none of these military actions have been approved by Congress, as we now enter our 18th year of unconstitutional warfare.

Email or call (202.224.3121) your Members of Congress and demand a complete repeal of the AUMF. Our children under the age of 18 have never known a time that their country was not at war. Let’s try to keep their children from the same situation.