Alan Zendell, April 30, 2026

I heard Secretry of Defense Pete Hegseth tell Senators, today, that even though it’s been sixty days since Trump ordered the bombing of Iran to begin, the War Powers Resolution doesn’t come into play because the ceasefire stopped the clock. Having watched Hegseth in action, I asked Microsoft Copilot if he was right. I’d believe AI before I took Hegseth’s word for anything.

Copilot thought it over for a few microseconds, and replied: “If a conflict is ongoing and a ceasefire is negotiated, the War Powers Resolution’s 60‑day clock would still run from the date forces were first introduced into hostilities. If Congress does not act to authorize continued operations, the withdrawal period would begin, but that does not mean a ceasefire is mandated — it simply sets a timeline for removal of forces unless Congress extends authorization.”

An AI is not a judge, but I’ll assume Copilot got it right. So did Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who said the statute does not support Hegseth’s conclusion. According to both the War Powers Resolution and our Constitution, the ball is in Congress’s court. It has the authority to order the Trump administration to begin withdrawing from the Persian Gulf tomorrow, if it has the guts to use it.

Trump created a situation with no off ramps, and it’s highly likely that any deal he reaches will be worse than the Obama deal he canceled. Earlier this week, the New York Times published a well-documented timeline of Iran’s efforts to enrich uranium. It reviewed the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which conducted regular onsite inspections, along with several other international agencies. The unanimous conclusion was that Iran had been complying with the Obama agreement and was not enriching any uranium.

Virtually the moment Trump tore up the deal, Iran began enriching uranium as fast as it could, which is why they have nearly a half ton of nearly weapons grade uranium today. The Obama deal would have had to be renegotiated by now, because its time horizon was approaching. The United States and Europe would have had considerable leverage renegotiating the original deal, but we have little or none, now. Instead, we have a new, angry hardline Supreme Leader whose father we killed on the first day of the war. We also have an adversary under the complete control of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, whose power has been increased by American and Israeli bombing.

While his main focus should be on ending the war, Trump seems to care more about the midterm elections and helping his family win defense contracts. If Republicans lose the midterms, the Trump locomotive stops. If he weren’t the hateful sociopath he is, I might feel sympathy for the predicament he’s gotten himself into.

/oday, the Washington Post reported that the war’s support has dropped to 31% which means only Trump’s most committed base approve of it. He knows that if he resumes bombing Iran or launches a ground war, voters will end his reign of terror. He knows that if he can’t get the Strait of Hormuz open without making huge concessions to Iran, and if he can’t get Iran’s enriched uranium, he will be mortified both at home and around the world.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who in the wake of Trump’s threats to leave NATO is probably now its strongest supporter, said last Monday that the United States has been completely humiliated by Iran, vocalizing what dozens of other world leaders believe. With Europe and Asia suffering far worse than we are from oil and gas shortages and the price of energy and fertilizer, anger at Trump among our allies grows every day, while adversaries like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping take note of every incompetent decision Trump makes.

Because Trump’s ego cannot survive the humiliation of Iran, his only recourse is to try to rig the midterm elections, by convincing every Republican dominated state to suppress the effect of Democratic districts through the most extreme gerrymandering anyone has ever seen. The Supreme Court has determined that gerrymandering for partisan advantage is not an issue it’s interested in.

The most important question facing America today is Congress’s dysfunction, which results from MAGA Republicans betting everything on re-election, which they believe depends on doing Trump’s bidding, regardless of how badly that damages the country. It took seventy-six days for them to agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security while holding ICE funding back pending a review of their actions, simply because Democrats liked the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate. Only now, when it’s in Trump’s self-interest to pass it, did his puppet Mike Johnson allow members to vote on it.

If our Congress doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Trump to stop a war we can’t get out of without admitting embarrassing failures, they may have sealed their fate as being unable to function independently. Once conceding their power they’ll never get it back, and that would be a tragedy for America and the world.