Spineless Republicans lining up to support Trump going to war against Iran
Any doubts as to how far down the rabbit hole Republicans and the talking heads at Con., Inc. are willing to go when it comes to Donald Trump have been answered once again as they line up to give him their unqualified support to go to war against Iran with or without congressional approval.
Though their support isn’t unanimous — at least not yet — “conservatives” and Trumpists in the Republican Party are already lining up to praise him for handling the Israel/Iran conflict so “brilliantly” (via ABCNews.com):
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a defense hawk who said he spoke to Trump last night, endorsed the use of force if diplomatic efforts fail. “Either you want them to have a nuclear weapon, or you don’t,” Graham said. “And if you don’t, if diplomacy fails, you use force.”
“American foreign policy is always a balance between … between values and interests. The value here is obvious to everyone. Iran cannot have a [nuclear] bomb. It’s just unthinkable, and I support the president unconditionally on that,” Sen. John Kennedy said.
“If Israel has a plan which is appropriate to take care of the problem, then we don’t need to be there, but we should never take or eliminate options that are available to the president in exercising his authority as the commander-in-chief,” Sen. Mike Rounds said.
Sen. Kevin Cramer said Trump has been handling the crisis “brilliantly” and applauded Trump’s suggestion that he may or may not get involved.
“I think that’s pretty honest, right? I may or I may not. I think that that the element of surprise, if you will, is maintained by an answer that doesn’t tell you what he’s going to do,” he said. “It’d be crazy for the president to give a warning, if you will, of what he may do.”
Both Republicans and Democrats said they would like Congress to have a role in determining whether the U.S. gets involved in the conflict, but Republicans were much less forceful. (Emphasis mine)
Boy, Cramer really stuck his neck out on that one, didn’t he?
Perhaps no one showed more spinelessness than “constitutional conservative” Sen. Ted Cruz, who told reporters in an interview that Trump had the constitutional authority to bomb Iran without obtaining permission from Congress (via The Independent):
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that Trump would have constitutional authority to bomb Fordow, which is located deep inside a mountain near the city of Qom.
“Under Article II of the Constitution, the president is the commander in chief, and he has the authority and responsibility to keep Americans safe and defend American servicemen and women,” Cruz said.
“Congress has the authority to declare war, and war is considered sustained and longstanding hostilities,” he maintained.
“A single bombing run, historically, has not been understood to require congressional authorization to engage in sustained hostility, to engage in continued warfare, does require congressional coming to the floor.”
Other Republicans echoed Cruz’s words on Iran. (Emphasis mine)
Noticeably absent from Cruz’s sycophantic defense of Trump was how bombing Iran would keep Americans safe. Nor did he provide any indication as to how bombing Iran was necessary to “defend American servicemen and women.”
Right on cue, Steve Deace — a guy who once proclaimed that his kids will “never fight in your damn war” when it came to defending Ukraine against Russia — proudly defended Trump’s threat to get involved in another Middle East war. Calling Trump’s foreign policy resume “the best of any president since [he] came of voting age,” Deace fell right in line behind the man he supported for promising to end “forever wars.”
There are a few members of Congress — too few to stop Trump if he decides to get involved in the Israel/Iran war — who are openly opposed to the idea. One of the leaders in this opposition is Rep. Thomas Massey who has introduced the “Iran War Powers Resolution” to prohibit US involvement in the conflict without congressional approval. The resolution has created a rather odd alliance of anti-Israel and pro-Israel members of Congress.
When it comes to Israel’s initial attack on Iran — I’m personally on the side of Team Israel — there are arguments on both sides of the issue. Some say Israel broke international law by attacking another country while the other side claims that Israel had the right to do what was done because the nation has been living under the threat of war from Iran for years. Iran was on the verge of making a nuclear bomb and that posed an existential threat to their existence, they insist.
Whether you support Israel or Iran in this war isn’t the issue. The issue is that Trump has once again proven himself to be a liar and political opportunist and that Congress is filled with men and women who should be protecting the Constitution, not ignoring or usurping it.
Our involvement in the Middle East shows us, once again, how the Republican Party is filled with a bunch of sniveling, spineless cowards pretending to be conservatives who are quick to unfurl the banner of conservatism every election season but then, just as quickly, fold it up and store it away once their campaign coffers are full and our votes secured. In other words, being a conservative is a matter of convenience, not conviction, for the vast majority of Republicans.
As a movement, conservatives have been all too willing to accept the crumbs falling from the Republican establishment’s table under the mistaken belief that having an “R” in office was better than having a “D.” Unfortunately, this binary approach to voting is how we ended up where we are today.
The only way to change this sad reality is to change the game’ by refusing to participate in the two-party system owned and operated by the two parties for the benefit of the two parties. If we continue playing the duopoly’s game, nothing will change . . . and Trumpism will live forever.
If that happens, the Republic that has stood for nearly 250 years will be relegated to the ash heap of history; replaced by a form of government where tyranny and oppression replaces the will of “We the people.”
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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