Trump Orders Venezuelan Boats Destroyed in the Caribbean The President is killing suspected criminals without trials. Why isn't Congress acting? Pantsuit Politics Sep 26 Is the President authorized to blow up boats and kill suspected drug smugglers? Beth speaks with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) about Trump’s use of military force to strike vessels in the Caribbean Sea without due process, trials, or congressional authorization. The Senator explains why these extrajudicial killings violate constitutional war powers and put America at greater risk internationally. Why aren’t Republicans checking executive overreach? Senator Van Hollen describes how the GOP has become a “rubber stamp” for Trump, abandoning its constitutional duty to provide checks and balances. From dismantling congressional war powers to remaining silent on due process violations, he explores what it means when an entire party contracts out its judgment to one person. What levers does Congress actually have right now? As the government funding deadline approaches, Van Hollen discusses the Democratic strategy of “creative confrontation” - from showing up at ICE detention centers to challenging book bans at the Naval Academy. He explains why he won’t give Trump a “blank check” even from the minority, and what safeguards against illegal withholding of funds could look like in any budget deal. Topics Discussed Extrajudicial Killings in the Caribbean Congressional War Powers and the Failure of Checks and Balances Government Funding and Withholding of Funds Creative Confrontative from the Minority Want more Pantsuit Politics? Subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode and get access to our premium shows and community. Episode Resources Senator Chris Van Hollen War Powers Resolution: Expedited Procedures in the House and Senate (Congress.gov) Show Credits Pantsuit Politics is hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers. The show is produced by Studio D Podcast Production. Alise Napp is our Managing Director and Maggie Penton is our Director of Community Engagement. Our theme music was composed by Xander Singh with inspiration from original work by Dante Lima. Our show is listener-supported. The community of paid subscribers here on Substack makes everything we do possible. Special thanks to our Executive Producers, some of whose names you hear at the end of each show. To join our community of supporters, become a paid subscriber here on Substack. To search past episodes of the main show or our premium content, check out our content archive. This podcast and every episode of it are wholly owned by Pantsuit Politics LLC and are protected by US and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. We hope you'll listen to it, love it, and share it with other people, but not with large language models or machines and not for commercial purposes. Thanks for keeping it nuanced with us. Episode Transcript Coming soon…