Ignatius on Iran: ‘We’ve Moved into Something Very Different with … Sometimes Authoritarian’ Trump Deciding Without Congress

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: "President Trump is doing his usual negotiating process of putting a lot of force in play, a lot of chips on the table to try to threaten, intimidate Iran at the same time that he holds out the possibility of making maybe we’ll have a deal, maybe we won’t back and forth. But just looking at the military assets that have been put into the region, and I don’t just mean the the armada at sea, the two aircraft carrier task forces, but the actual instruments of war, the refueling tankers that will refuel U.S. fighter jets in the air, the electronic warfare planes that are being sent, that are part of any serious combat mission, those have all been put into the region. So you have to take these threats of war seriously. I think what’s concerning people is the president’s still unable to articulate clearly to the American people, let alone go to the Congress, which is what our Constitution provides for, to discuss the grounds for entering into a war with Iran and get Congress’ approval to do that. That’s the way our system is supposed to work. And we’ve moved into something very different with this authoritative, sometimes authoritarian figure deciding when we will and won’t go into military action.”