The Constitution says Congress declares war. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, modern presidents tend to treat Congress less like a co-equal branch of government and more like the customer feedback department after military action is already underway. Missiles fly first. Hearings happen later. Statements are issued. Senators appear on cable news looking “deeply concerned.” Then the next crisis arrives and the cycle begins again. Presidents inherited expanded war powers.

For those of you who don’t geek out on history as much as I do — or who just weren’t around to remember most of these — I want to talk about something that keeps popping up in our national conversation: Regime change. It sounds abstract. Strategic. Clean. But the United States has a long history of attempting to remove, replace, undermine, or collapse foreign governments it viewed as hostile or destabilizing. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it failed. And sometimes it “worked”