In what may have flown under the rhetorical radar recently, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has recently promoted the idea of effectively going to war with China — at least as a possibility.
He claimed in his remarks that he wasn’t in favor of war, but he was also pushing for a Congressional authorization for the use of military force against Chinese assets in Cuba, and to establish such a framework while somehow pretending it’s not the path to war is ridiculous. He may claim to not like it, but war is effectively exactly what he’s promoting.
“I support an Authorization for Use of Military Force to take out the Chinese assets in Cuba,” Gaetz said on Twitter, attaching footage of recent comments. “We should be a lot more concerned that China is functionally turning Cuba into a stationary aircraft carrier right off the coast of Florida.”
Do these people have any stable beliefs, essentially at all? Are they religiously opposed to almost any foreign engagement, let alone war, or are they willing to risk American lives in starting an offensive conflict with not just one but possibly two countries if Cuba unsurprisingly also reacted to the U.S. military launching an attack? The crazy thing is that Gaetz isn’t even the first from his corner of the Republican Party and Congress to promote such a concept!
Elsewhere, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has also promoted the idea of using military force against criminal organizations with operations in Mexico. (She’s not the only Republican to suggest such action.) She’s pretended her suggested course of action wouldn’t necessarily constitute war with Mexico’s government… so what did she think would happen if the U.S. started launching a military incursion of some sort targeting the country’s southern neighbor?
In the House, there’s a proposal for an authorization for the use of military force against criminal cartels in Mexico that was sponsored by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), which has accumulated nearly a dozen cosponsors in the chamber. It’s somehow especially ridiculous for that list to include, for instance, a Republican member of the House from Illinois, which is nowhere near a southern border state. Elsewhere, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has also backed the idea.
I support an Authorization for Use of Military Force to take out the Chinese assets in Cuba.
We should be a lot more concerned that China is functionally turning Cuba into a stationary aircraft carrier right off the coast of Florida. pic.twitter.com/rH0WIpU5rV
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) June 22, 2023
