Trump’s plan to sell $8 billion in arms to Saudis underscores his lawlessness

“Donald Trump is a lawless president, he has repeatedly bypassed Congress, completely ignored the constitutional separation of powers,” said Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Los Angeles.

“This is Donald Trump’s descent into his version of an all-powerful, unaccountable executive,” Martin said.

“It's also Donald Trump’s way of propping up the Saudi regime,” he added.

Members of Congress, including his fellow Republicans, pushed back on Wednesday against his plan to sell $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saying it was “unfortunate” the White House used an emergency declaration to avoid Congressional review.

US lawmakers have been blocking sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for months, supposedly over the devastating Saudi-led war in Yemen, as well as human rights abuses such as the murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, last year.

The US has been unreservedly supporting a 2015-present Saudi-led war against Yemen that seeks to bring back the impoverished country’s former Riyadh-backed officials. The American patronage has featured aerial refueling, which the US only stopped earlier in the year after the Saudi-led coalition grew independent of it, as well as logistical and commando support.

Tens of thousands have died since the onset of the war, and the entire Yemen has been pushed close to the edge of outright famine.

A year after the war on Yemen was launched, Trump made his maiden foreign visit to Saudi Arabia, announcing more than $100 billion in arms sales to the kingdom.