Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) filed an article of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday, accusing the president of failing to notify or seek authorization from Congress before the U.S. launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.

The resolution alleges “abuse of presidential powers by disregarding the separation of powers—devolving American democracy into authoritarianism by unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s power to declare war.”

“President Trump’s unilateral, unprovoked use of force without congressional authorization or notice constitutes an abuse of power when there was no imminent threat to the United States, which facilitates the devolution of American democracy into authoritarianism,” Green’s resolution reads.

Congress has the sole power to “declare war” under the Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. Presidents of both parties have struck adversaries without approval from the legislature.

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      5 hours ago

      Fine, here are several things they could be doing that would actually be productive right now:

      • Start campaigning hard, now, for the upcoming midterms, telling voters exactly what the Trump administration has done that is hurting them, and how they can fix it. Look at Bernie and AOC for a good example.
      • Identify districts where they can help campaign and inject funding to tip the scales.
      • Join protests in their districts. Show up and support the people on the ground.
      • Keep pushing to get access to ICE detention centers as much as possible. Tell the stories of the people being detained. Show the world that this has nothing to do with rounding up criminals. If ICE agents try to stop them or assault/arrest them, so much the better. That shit is getting people riled up.
      • Stand with state governors that are defying executive orders from the president.

      I could list stuff here all day. None of it changes the fact that articles of impeachment aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on right now. Republicans control congress and are colluding with a corrupt executive branch. The Democrats in congress have zero power to effect change through their offices right now. They need to do the work to get some power back first. At best, they can do something like this to grab a few headlines and maybe get a few republicans on record saying they explicitly support what Trump is doing. Sadly, a good chunk of the population agrees still, and this isn’t going to change that.