The White House has become a political Gettysburg. A devastating political civil war is eroding the unity of mind and purpose of national leadership at an unprecedented pace. Politicians are soldiers dressed in suits and ties. Press releases, filibusters and vetoes replace guns and cannons as weapons. The damage that such political division can inflict cannot be overestimated. This brother vs. brother struggle is undermining America’s reputation abroad and leaving the nation as prey awaiting the claws of its enemies.

The war within the American government took a sharp turn when the Democrats secured majorities in both chambers of Congress in last year’s midterm elections. Those elections, wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry at the time, “changed American politics forever.” Prior to those elections, Democrats waged war from a defensive position; now they are on an offensive warpath, making intense and regular strikes on their Republican enemies, especially President Bush.

Presidential power and authority now butts against a wall of resistance at nearly every turn. Every key decision, particularly in foreign policy, gets criticized, ridiculed and slammed.

The strongest, most damaging single instance of the Democrats’ strategy of opposition occurred at the beginning of April, when Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker of the House and a leading general in the Democratic army, visited the Middle East, against the express wishes of President Bush, to conduct foreign policy discussions with the leader of Syria, Bashar Assad.

By engaging Assad in direct discussions, Ms. Pelosi rejected the elected president’s established policy intended to isolate tyrants, and assumed a posture of negotiation with dictatorial, terrorist-loving leaders. By intentionally assuming responsibilities that were not legally hers and launching a separate, Democrat-led U.S. foreign policy—trampling on the presidential office and the Constitution in the process—Ms. Pelosi inflicted deep wounds on more than just the Republican Party; she struck the entire government and nation a deadly blow.

It is not uncommon for members of Congress or the Senate to visit foreign nations for routine fact-finding meetings. But as the speaker’s accomplice and House Foreign Affairs chairman Tom Lantos confirmed, Ms. Pelosi’s pilgrimage was much more than routine. “We have an alternative Democratic foreign policy,“ said Mr. Lantos just prior to their trip. “I view my job as beginning with restoring overseas credibility and respect for the United States” (emphasis mine throughout).

America faces some desperate problems in the Middle East. Ms. Pelosi, like every American, has a right to weigh in on, even oppose, the foreign policy decisions of the Bush administration. But the solution is not the Democrats conducting a renegade foreign policy. Disagreement, frustration and intense emotion do not justify blatant rejection of presidential authority—especially by fellow politicians. Ms. Pelosi’s visit was a direct assault on the credibility and authority of the president of the United States.

When Ms. Pelosi flew to the Middle East with an “alternative Democratic foreign policy” stashed in her bag, the message she sent to Middle Eastern nations, particularly Syria, was: There is no reason for you to fear or respect George Bush; the Democratic Party doesn‘t. Be assured, the Democrats will soon control the American government, and our foreign policy is radically different.

Ms. Pelosi sought to paint President Bush as a war-mongering, unreasonable, uncompromising oppressor—and to sell the Democrats as a peace-loving, open-minded political party willing to negotiate and compromise with anyone. Furthermore, her message was one of surrender, and showed America’s enemies that President Bush is quickly losing control of his government and now lacks the power of influence to follow through on his policies. Support for Mr. Bush is hollowing, and Ms. Pelosi exposed this fact to world.

Pelosi’s visit to Syria, stated a Lebanese official, “was a godsend to an isolated and beleaguered regime. The Syrian regime, which had been thinking of bowing to international pressure, is now reassured: All it has to do is to wait until Pelosi’s party takes over the White House in 2009.” This assault hijacked the authority and power of a president that has more than 20 months left in office.

The speaker undermined the authority of Islamic terrorists’ number-one enemy, the U.S. president. America’s terrorist enemies were surely thrilled by Ms. Pelosi’s assault on her president.

Ms. Pelosi’s jaunt to the Middle East was also a fierce assault on law and the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution provides legal procedures by which the speaker and fellow Democrats may voice their discontent.

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, lawyer and politician Robert Turner explained how Ms. Pelosi committed a felony by her actions in Damascus. The Logan Act, explained Turner, “makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, ‘without authority of the United States,’ to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government’s behavior on any ‘disputes or controversies with the United States’” (April 6).

This law secures the singleness and unity of U.S. foreign policy and helps protect the reputation of the American government. Consider the nightmare of multiple policies being promoted by multiple, independent representatives.

Under the Logan Act, Nancy Pelosi could have been jailed for three years for her discussions with Assad. Instead she was mildly rapped on the wrist by the Bush administration, congratulated by segments of the press and applauded by many Democrats.

For the same reasons Pelosi’s actions contravened the Logan Act, so they also trampled on the U.S. Constitution. The speaker is a member of the legislative branch of government and is not vested with the authority to engage in independent foreign policy. The Constitution clearly dictates that the responsibility for formulating and conducting foreign policy lies with the executive branch, headed by the democratically elected president. One might argue that Ms. Pelosi’s actions were justifiable because of her prominent position as speaker of the House. To the contrary, Ms. Pelosi is all the more accountable: She swore an oath to uphold the Constitution!

Fact-finding missions or negotiations authorized by the president are within the law for traveling representatives. But when the speaker of the House—the person third in line for the presidency—blatantly defies the president, flouts the law and tramples on the U.S. Constitution—all in an effort to embrace a terrorist-sponsoring state—shouldn’t the American people be alarmed?

“The appalling, astonishing thing about the top-ranked Democrats is their willing embrace of evil—seemingly, any evil—as long [as] the evil opposes whatever Republican is in power” (Human Events, April 9). The speaker acted treasonably, broke the law and rejected the U.S. Constitution—for what? Political gain.

The American government and public, already grappling with the effects of intense division, were dealt a further fateful injury by the dagger of disunity through Pelosi’s actions. The speaker’s open defiance of President Bush and treasonous advancement of Democratic doctrine thrilled liberals and infuriated conservatives, fueling the disunity and division that already existed in both the political and public spheres.

Worse still, the whole world was audience to this all-American debacle. Weak, divided leadership is just one of America’s Achilles heels, and Pelosi’s trip graphically exposed it to the nation’s enemies. “The Pelosi mission,” wrote Ameri Taheri in the New York Post, “confirms the analysis made by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the United States is incapable of developing and implementing a long-term strategy” (April 6). Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Bassar Assad, Osama Bin Laden; these tyrants were thrilled by the global display of American disunity.

After returning to America amid a political brouhaha, Tom Lantos showed no signs of regret for his trip with Ms. Pelosi. During a press conference, he said he would happily return to Syria, and would “get on a plane tomorrow morning” if the opportunity arose to conduct similar talks with Iran. He expressed confidence that Nancy Pelosi would be ready to join him.

This civil war in America shows no signs of letting up. Since the speaker’s trip, Democrats and Republicans have dug deeper into their respective bunkers. War rages!

Even now, Congress and the White House are battling over funding and troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether or not the U.S. should quit fighting in Iraq. Last week, the Democrat-led house mustered its influence and presented the White House with a bill that would fund the war, provided the president meets certain stipulations, including agreeing to a timetable for the removal of American soldiers in Iraq. On Tuesday, President Bush vetoed the funding bill because he was unwilling to accept the strict conditions outlined by the Democrats.

The government is gridlocked!

Immediately after last November’s midterm elections, Mr. Flurry warned in the Trumpet that the election results prove we are “witnessing the demise of American global leadership.” He forewarned that the Democrats’ victory and the appointment of Nancy Pelosi would prove to be a curse on the United States. We can see this curse playing out already.

“President Bush will not be able to accomplish anything of substance again,” wrote Mr. Flurry. “Internal crisis and division will prevent the U.S. from conducting a respectable foreign policy.” The debacle surrounding Pelosi’s visit to the Middle East earlier this year proves the veracity of that statement: It was anything but respectable; it should embarrass every politician in America—Republican and Democrat!

Civil war is the worst kind of conflict because it forces a nation to turn inward. The American government has become so pre-occupied with internal strife and division that it is failing to comprehend how quickly its enemies are growing in power and influence. North Korea shows no signs of wilting. Iran, Syria and radical Islam grow stronger, more ambitious and more deadly by the day. Anti-American rhetoric streams from Russia. China grows increasingly confrontational.

These dangerous powers are hovering around the United States like hornets waiting to inflict their painful sting. Never in U.S. history has unity of command been as important as it is right now. America’s leadership must unite, or the nation will soon be stung.