When AOC Is Right, She Is Right On! Illegal Attacks on Iran Are Grounds for Impeachment and Removal
- john raymond
- Jun 22
- 3 min read
There are moments in American political life when clarity strikes like lightning—rare, brilliant, and impossible to ignore. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered one of those moments in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s illegal strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
In no uncertain terms, she called the act what it was: a grave violation of the Constitution and the clearest grounds yet for impeachment and removal. She is right—and anyone serious about constitutional order, international law, or democratic legitimacy must reckon with the truth she’s asserting.
Let’s not pretend this was a tactical maneuver within a spectrum of normal policy choices. This was a deliberate circumvention of Congress’s exclusive power to authorize war. There was no congressional declaration, no imminent threat justifying preemptive action, no coalition built, and no international mandate sought.
It was a unilateral decision by a compromised president with a history of deference to Vladimir Putin, a man who had every strategic interest in the United States launching strikes that would:
Ignite chaos in the Middle East,
Break NATO consensus,
Further isolate Europe,
Divert help from Ukraine during its spring counteroffensive, and
Rallies U.S. and Russian media around the flag in a time of increasing political scrutiny.
In other words, Trump didn’t just break the law. He served the strategic interests of an adversary—again.
AOC recognized what others were too timid or cynical to say: that this isn’t just a political scandal or a regrettable misjudgment. It is an impeachable offense—precisely because it strikes at the heart of the separation of powers, abuses military force for personal and political aims, and entangles the U.S. in a potential multi-theater war with no democratic mandate and no national benefit.
While figures like William Spaniel wasted time rehashing sterile models of nuclear deterrence and preventive logic, AOC cut straight to the core: the president is not above the law.
Trump had no right to unilaterally escalate us into war, no matter how many B-2 bombers he waved on Truth Social or how many Fox News anchors cheered.
And his “Now Is the Time for Peace” tweet was not just cynical—it was insulting, the kind of Orwellian inversion that only makes sense if you accept that violence is diplomacy and that wars can be started casually, by autocratic fiat.
Make no mistake: this is the most consequential constitutional crisis since Watergate, not because it is complex, but because it is clear. We know the president acted without authorization. We know he lied about intelligence. We know the Pentagon carried out orders based on political calculations rather than strategic imperatives. And we know that no accountability mechanism will function unless Congress acts now.
So yes—AOC is right. She was right when she warned that Trump’s authoritarian impulses were not rhetorical but operational. She was right to see the strike for what it was. And she is right to demand impeachment and removal, not as a partisan act, but as a moral and constitutional necessity.
If the republic is to mean anything—if our Constitution is more than a prop—then this must be the line in the sand. We do not let presidents wage war on their own. We do not reward illegal behavior with silence. And we do not permit a man so openly serving the strategic ends of America’s enemies to remain commander-in-chief one day longer than necessary.
There is still time to act. But history will not forgive cowardice.
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