This contemporary application episode examines how American regime change evolved from covert CIA operations denied for decades to open presidential assertions of authority over foreign governments. Tracing the trajectory from Korea through Syria, we analyze how President Trump’s statement that he “must be involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader represents the culmination of seven decades of executive aggrandizement and congressional abdication. We examine the Venezuela model, the Board of Peace governance structure for Gaza, explicit regime change rhetoric regarding Cuba, and the systematic failures of oversight—including the Pentagon’s eighth consecutive failed audit and Congress’s rejection of war powers resolutions by party-line votes.

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