So much for Donald the Dove.

President Donald Trump mounted an illegal invasion of Venezuela, kidnapping president Nicolás Maduro and his wife and spiriting them out of the country.

The breathtaking use of military force against a sovereign state has no legal justification. It opens the door for anarchy in Venezuela and threatens to make the United States a pariah with no moral authority for other dictatorships around the globe.

Trump acted without the authorization of Congress, in clear violation of the Constitution. But then again Trump has long mocked the Constitution he swore to uphold.

Former President George W. Bush at least sold a phony story about weapons of mass destruction to get Congress to go along with his reckless invasion of Iraq. That catastrophic folly lasted nearly nine years, resulting in tens of thousands of needless deaths and costing taxpayers roughly $3 trillion.

Trump once promised to avoid forever wars and claimed to be the president of peace. But without any provocation or convincing explanation, he launched a military buildup in the Caribbean and began illegally bombing small boats, killing alleged drug smugglers in Central and South America.

Trump has offered shifting explanations — and even less evidence — for the military action ranging from wanting to stop drug trafficking to accusing Maduro of “stealing” U.S. oil and land.

After the attack, Trump came clean on just how out of control the operation is, claiming the U.S. is ”going to run the country" and take over oil production.

There is scant public support for Trump’s attacks in Venezuela.

Congress, which under the Constitution, has the sole power to declare war, rejected efforts to rein in Trump’s warmongering. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump puppet, praised the attack as a “justified operation that will protect American lives.”

Sen. Andy Kim, D.-N.J., called the move “disastrous” and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “blatantly” lied to Congress when they said the goal of the military buildup was not to topple Maduro.

To be sure, Maduro is a corrupt and undemocratic leader who has brought economic ruin and death to Venezuela. Under his repressive regime, roughly 8 million people have fled the country.

But if the Trump doctrine is the removal of corrupt and undemocratic leaders, where do the military actions end? How does Trump square the removal and prosecution of Maduro with his outrageous pardon last month of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking by federal prosecutors?

Trump’s strongman act will do little to spread peace and democracy around the globe. In fact, the military actions in Venezuela may embolden China to invade Taiwan. It also signals to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that Trump is not serious about defending Ukraine or Europe.

It is painfully clear there is a corrupt and unrestrained madman in the White House. Yet, the conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans in Congress have abandoned their role to act as checks on the executive branch, starting with the insurrection Trump fomented nearly five years ago.

Under Trump, the American democracy that is getting ready to celebrate 250 years, is backsliding. A Harvard professor who studies democracies said flatly: “We are no longer living in a democratic regime.”

The unauthorized attack in Venezuela is just the latest example of Trump’s growing authoritarian rule.

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