Opinion Opinion - An unbound president goes to war J. Brian Atwood, opinion contributor Fri, June 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM PDT 5 min read ...

He advised three defense secretaries, beginning with Robert McNamara, until the Nixon White House started tapping his phones.

In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, aiming to clarify, even limit the president's authority to enter the United States into armed conflict without the approval of Congress.

Johnson and Thune look to be ducking their responsibility on starting wars out of fear of being bullied by the president. That is a rational fear. Trump is the dominant figure in the GOP.