Thread by @Monaheart1229

"[GOP Senators] to reclaim more power over foreign policy..are planning to move a measure Thursday that would be a stunning rebuke to a president of their own party." The shift is real. #ThursdayThoughts
thehill.com/homenews/senat…

2-"“Power over foreign policy has shifted to the executive branch over the last 30 years. Many of us in the Senate want to start taking it back,” said a Republican senator closely allied with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). They plan to send Trump a stern

3-"admonishment by voting Thursday afternoon on an amendment sponsored by McConnell warning “the precipitous withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Syria and Afghanistan “could put at risk hard-won gains and United States national security.”

4-"It’s a pointed rebuttal to the claim Trump made on Twitter in December that “we have defeated ISIS in Syria.” Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said his amendment “simply re-emphasizes the expertise and counsel offered by experts who have served presidents of both

5-"parties,” a subtle rebuff of Trump’s tweets from earlier in the day mocking his intelligence advisers as “naive.” ..A turning point for many Republicans was Trump’s unexpected announcement on Dec. 19 that “we have won against ISIS” and he would order the withdrawal of 2,000

6-"American troops from Syria. The next day, Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced his resignation, citing policy differences and his concern over the future of U.S. alliances. Even before that, there was growing sentiment within the Senate GOP conference to constrain

7-"Trump’s power as commander in chief. Seven Republicans voted with Democrats on Dec. 13 for a resolution directing the president to withdraw U.S. forces from participating in the civil war in Yemen. It marked the first time the Senate successfully passed a resolution under the

8-"1973 War Powers Act, which was enacted to constrain executive power at the end of the Vietnam War. McConnell has tried to shift focus away from the differences between Trump and Republican senators on national security by highlighting divisions among Democrats over the

9-"resolution on Syria and Afghanistan. “Democrats objected to a vote on this amendment, apparently because it would expose a rift among their membership. A division between those Senate Democrats who still subscribe to this vision for American leadership and their colleagues who

10-" have abandoned those principles at the urging of the far left — or are too afraid to take either position,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. Democrats, however, were quick to pounce on Trump’s comments and draw a comparison to the president’s controversial joint press

11-"conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin last year when he appeared to give equal weight to U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and Putin’s categorical denial. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)

12-"accused Trump of undercutting U.S. intelligence officials. “It gives a great opening to our adversaries who can discredit our intelligence agencies, who can say: ‘Well look, even the president of the United States doesn’t believe his intelligence agencies so why should we

13-"believe what the intelligence community says about Russia’s intervention in our election? Why should we believe what the intelligence community has to say about Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal?’ ” he said Wednesday."
The Hill, 1/31/19