Last week, Republicans in Congress rejected a war powers resolution and thus negated their own power. In so doing, they gave President Donald Trump free rein over the Iran conflict and tied themselves to a war that has no consistent justification, no clear end and little public support. Democrats voted largely in lockstep to curtail Trump’s power, the first move in a process that will become more substantial as the already-unpopular war continues. History shows that foreign conflicts rarely get more popular. Yet they do get more complicated, politically and otherwise.

In getting Republicans on the record in favor of the war, Democrats influenced the narrative around it and the upcoming fight over how to fund it. “It’s not a one-and-done,” Senator Tim Kaine, who co-sponsored the resolution, said to Punchbowl News. “[This vote] will be the first effort of all Congress going on the record about this. But I can assure you it’s not going to be the last.”

© Bloomberg