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The holiday lull is over when we go from “Jingle Bells” to “Jingo Bells.”

Donald Trump sure knows disruptive dissonance.

The impeached president is in Mar-a-Lago with his chums, playing the world, essentially by remote control with his tweets. And meanwhile, his military kills the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s second in command.

Sounds like a declaration of war, doesn’t it? Hey, don’t we need Congressional input for that?

Of course we do.

Soleimani was a uniformed general of a country that the U.S. was not at war with, which experts tell me provide him protection fro assassination, according to international laws.

But maybe it’s OK, if this is just a war to evade finalizing one man’s impeachment?

That doesn’t sound good for anyone—except for Donald J. Trump, TIP.

If you read his tweets trying to justify the killing of Soleimani, Trump can be pretty convincing, saying that Soleimani “has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill more…but got caught.”

We know Soleimani’s past as the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and how the Shiites have used proxies to fight Iran’s battles among neighbors and destabilize throughout the region.

But where is the proof that killing Soliemani was required now? Where was the discussion? Was it U.S. intelligence, the men and women Trump continues to undercut?

And why would we trust an impeached president who has made more than 15,000 false or misleading statements to date?

Too many questions, and yet here we are.

Trump has now said he did not intend to start a war. But then why were allies in the dark? That is, except for Israel, whose leader, the indicted Netanyahu, must be something of a role model for Trump. You too can be on the edge of the law and do what you want in a “democracy.”

Strong men with bombs are all the rage these days.

Bomb first, talk later is the game. Just bomb.

But wait, the U.S. is not Israel. We are above the fray. We use diplomacy when we can. What took us to the point where we’re killing Iran’s No. 2?

And where is the isolationism of Trump?

Was it all fake isolationist talk, not wanting to drag us into another endless war? Because that’s where this is all leading. Thousands of troops are now ready to be deployed because the fearless leader has struck and doesn’t exactly know what the next move will be.

There will be a retaliatory strike. But where? And how?

This is not the way you play this deadly chess match.

Once we took out Soleimani, there should have been a plan, a strategy, something in place.

And Americans should all be united behind the president, regardless of politics.

But the president didn’t go to Congress. Not even to the so-called “Gang of 8.” He didn’t seek approval. He acted alone. Oh, and he tipped off his top sycophant Sen. Lindsay Graham during a round of golf te other day. That’s all.

Sycophants get all the goods. Our top allies learned after the fact. Except for Israel.

Senator Mazie Hirono, who is the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, showed her concern about that:

Soleimani’s death in a U.S. airstrike further escalates hostilities and increases the potential for widespread violence in a part of the world already fraught with peril,” she said. “In normal times, we could have confidence that the president—fully cognizant of the potential ramifications of this strike—was mobilizing a whole of government response and coordinating with our allies to see a diplomatic outcome. But these are not normal times. Congress must reassert its Constitutional responsibility and demand the president seek authorization prior to any military conflict with Iran.

Trump is skirting the Constitution yet again. He may see this as a way to circumvent impeachment efforts, but it only shows how unfit this president is to be the leader of the free world.

Ukraine was a small matter compared to this new involvement the president now seems so willing to expose the nation and sacrifice our sons and daughters.

It only reinforces the principles behind the main concern of Trump–not Soleimani, Iran or the Mideast, but his own impeachment future.

In times like this, all patriots must lean on the enduring foundation of our country–the Constitution.

We are reminded once again that the president is not above the law. He is not allowed to do anything he wants–like summarily ordering the death of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani.