If Trump felt beholden to congress, he would not have gotten approval. He would have had to spend years spreading propaganda and trying to build up a case, like Bush did. All that effort might have prevented him from doing it at all.
More importantly, doing this is trying to peel off people who might waver because Maduro is unsympathetic. It highlights that yes, this is a dictatorship in the making.
You know its even worse than that - fascist or fascist adjacent parties are leading in polls in the UK, France, and Germany simultaneously. Canada and Australia only avoided electing mini trumps as a response to trump. And that's only speaking of the larger countries. When I hear someone on here go off about how the "world" has always known the US is just bad I'm amazed. Can you not see what is happening in your own countries? International capital is making its move, and something is happening across the democratic world.
Cribbing this from some tumblr i saw: "My wish for 2026 is that Europeans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in their own country as they are about them in the U.S. and that Americans will be as critical and vigilant about authoritarianism and racism in the U.S. as Europeans are."