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Steve Chapman: The lawless president launches a lawless war

34 10
07.01.2026

Donald Trump has embarked on one figurative war after another in the past year — with “the radical left,” blue state cities, Ivy League universities and even onetime ally Marjorie Taylor Greene. Now he has launched an actual military war, attacking Venezuela, abducting its president and announcing that he will run the country. 

This invasion was the latest reminder that Trump never runs out of ways to shock. The same guy who promised to keep us out of debilitating foreign conflicts has volunteered for the job of nation-building in a place about which the great majority of Americans know little and, until recently, cared less. 

It may be folly to look for consistency in someone as impulsive and volatile as Trump. But what sets his second presidency apart is a recurrent theme: his refusal to let any laws, domestic or international, stand in his way. He has already distinguished himself as the most lawless president in American history. 

He set the tone on Inauguration Day, issuing pardons for more than 1,500 people who had been convicted or charged with crimes committed during the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the Capitol. Several participants who were serving prison sentences had them commuted by Trump. He has also issued assorted pardons to business tycoons and political........

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