Now Trump wants Cuba

Uh, sorry, NW, but a strike "to prevent an imminent invasion" would be precisely, exactly, incontrovertibly that. Preemptive. If China had a military buildup in an area close to Taiwan AND we had a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan AND Congress issued a declaration of war, then a strike against that buildup would be legal, at least. It wouldn't be enough that Trump's butt is itching from shitting his pants and he wants to blow something up real good.

And who would determine when the "imminent" line is crossed? At what point would anyone KNOW that a troop buildup meant an invasion was DEFINITELY coming? Your administration would have to have a lot of highly accurate soothsayers...but DOGE fired them all.

All that aside...I don't want to see us involved in a massive war with one of the most powerful nations in the world. Many Americans would die, and if the conflict went nuclear, many, many, many, many, many people on both sides would die. I'm sorry, but I don't care enough about Taiwan to see every city on the West Coast turned into radioactive rubble.

Oh, wait! Oh, shit! That's exactly what Trump wants! It all makes sense now!!

Welcome to the new world order with China in charge.

The chinese military has not been in action since 1953 and their navy hasn't been action since they had a sailboat.  They don't know if their new toys will be effective in a real war.The US military is experieinced, their equipment and technology has been tested in real time

The US is a third world shithole

Apparently mark hasn't noticed how effective their equipment and technology has been in Ukraine.  Could a 3rd world shithole pull off today's attacks.  Iran which is a 3rd world shithole who just got their butts whipped.

mark is another commie who is upset that one of his favorite countries and leaders have been beaten.

I am a socialist. There is a difference but I suspect you don't understand the distinction. The bottom line for me is I'd rather be a socialist or a communist than a fascist like you. 

You are putting the word strike in my mouth. I never used it. Nor did I say that any military action can be done without Congress. 

What I said was if china is about to invade Taiwan the us (through Congress) can take military action to prevent the invasion. Putting troops in Taiwan bases and ships off the coast of Taiwan is not a preemptive strike. It isn't a strike at all. It is a military action against China that would be reasonable. 

That seems like a trivial distinction to me. Neither offensive nor defensive "military action" would be lawful unless the conditions I mentioned existed. 

The reason I say that there's no real difference between offensive and defensive military action is: we provide the armaments, supplies, training, money (gobs and gobs of it), etc. etc. etc. What's the difference if we shoot down a Chinese plane or we hand a Taiwanese soldier a Whizbang Deluxe missile, complete with instructions, and HE shoots it down?

Either way, we are at war, and I guarantee that China would see it that way. Splitting hairs is precisely what has gotten us into all those undeclared wars.

I said from the beginning that congressional approval would be needed. 

You said "to prevent an imminent invasion." Sending troops and,,/or equipment to Taiwan wouldn't do that. It might DETER an invasion. Big, big difference.

And given that the Chinese overlords have thought for decades that their country was overpopulated, and their complete disregard for the rights and welfare of their citizenry, I think that a few million casualties might be, for them, just what the doctor ordered. Fewer mouths to feed. And they still have the "too many boys, not enough girls" problem, because during the recently ended "one child era," a LOT of newborn girls were quietly strangled.

So just sitting there and waiting for them to invade, even if we DID unpack and load all the Whizbang missiles, wouldn't prevent jack diddly. And given what I said above, it wouldn't be much of a deterrent, either.

To further clarify: to PREVENT an imminent invasion, we'd have to make an offensive strike on the invading forces. That's why I used that term.

Just like MAGA/Republipigs never have understood that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics wasn't SOOOCIALIST at all. Tom thinks simplistically, which is doubtless appropriate due to his crippled, sharply limited intellect. Everybody who doesn't LUVVVV his orange master is a "commie." 

There are in fact quite a few nations for which socialism has been highly successful. There are many more, including the US, for which democratic socialism has worked very well. Tom is unable to comprehend the distinction between those nations and those that are simply dictatorships that call themselves socialist and/or communist.

You're right that Tom is a fascist. I recall that one of the most frequently barfed out mantras by Hitler and Mussolini was that they were fighting those damn commies. They were in fact offering something far worse.

I think that a few million casualties might be, for them, just what the doctor ordered.

If the transport ships and planes are destroyed or severely damaged, it won't matter how many millions of troops the Chinese have   

And you don't care if several million people die, because they're filthy subhuman heathen Chinee?