5/ And on the Strait of Hormuz, they had NO PLAN. I can't go into more detail about how Iran gums up the Strait, but suffice it say, right now, they don't know how to get it safely back open.
Which is unforgiveable, because this part of the disaster was 100% foreseeable.
4/ Ok, so what ARE the goals? It seems, primarily, destroying lots of missiles and boats and drone factories.
But the question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production?
They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war.
3/ Second, they confirmed "regime change" is also NOT on the list. So, they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime - probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime - will still be in charge.
2/ Maybe the lead is that the war goals DO NOT involve destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program. This is, uh...surprising...since Trump says over and over this is a key goal.
But then of course we already know air strikes can't wipe out their nuclear material.
I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public.
I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are.
1/ Here's what I can share:
A group of us in the Senate are demanding public hearings on Trump's disastrous war with Iran with Secretary Hegseth and Rubio. And we've introduced a half dozen war powers resolutions to force the Senate to vote every day on the war if the hearings don't happen.
Our politics are fundamentally corrupt. And our economy is rigged against working people because of this corruption.
Trump's illegal Iran War is destined to end in failure. Already, hardline leadership is emerging that will be more hostile to America than the leaders we killed. And there is no way to eliminate their nuclear program with a bombing campaign. This whole war is pointless.
It’s like not a single person surrounding Trump studied one thing about Afghanistan. When a bombing campaign intentionally makes life this miserable for civilians, all it does it make hardline leadership more attractive and become bulletin board material for extremist groups.
Trump and his national security team have learned nothing from our prior mistakes in the Middle East. Bombing a school (a incompetent mistake) and a desalinization plant (probably not a mistake) is just going to empower Iran's hardline leadership and dangerous terrorist groups.
I was asked by Jake Tapper if my push to deny Trump funding for his illegal war with Iran was a failure to "support our troops".
My answer: refusing to repeat the mistakes of the past - sending soldiers to die in pointless Middle East wars - is how we support our troops
There have been some very bad developments today.
So Iran now has, perhaps for the first time, information about the location of our most sensitive covert sites in the region.
A completely foreseeable, unnecessary consequence of unnecessary war with Iran.
A story that is not being told enough about the Iran War is that the U.S. and Israel have totally different, incompatible goals. The U.S. says it’s targeting weapons systems. Israel wants regime change and a failed state. This conflict leads to total incoherence.
“I guess”.
You’ve got to be kidding me. We have totally unserious, completely incompetent people taking us into mindless deadly war.
I’m a hell no on funding for Trump’s illegal, disastrous Iran War.
The Trump Administration is considering asking Congress for new emergency spending for the Iran War.
Hell no. This is our chance to draw a line in the sand and use our power to stop this war before it kills more Americans and sends the Middle East into more chaos.
Americans are dead. Prices are skyrocketing. The Middle East is on fire. Civil war is brewing in Iran.
And for what? A war that will leave the same hardliners in charge? A war that can't actually destroy their nuclear program?
This is incompetence. Plain and simple.
The incompetence of the Iran War rollout is just stunning.
Rubio says "Israel dragged us into this war! We had no choice!"
Trump says "I dragged Israel into this war! Regime change! Iranian people, rise up!"
Just bonkers.
Here's what I believe: no more business as usual in the Senate. We shouldn't be voting to proceed to normal legislation until Republicans schedule a debate and a vote and on a declaration of war against Iran. Let's see if Trump has the votes to authorize war. I bet he doesn't.
It will be the kids of poor families and the middle class that die. It will be working families that pay the costs. The Epstein class will not suffer.
So the State Department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region.
The strike itself is illegal and disastrous but their lack of readiness for what comes next is unforgivable as well.
Incompetence everywhere.
Today's explanation for the Iran War (they shift by the minute) is that Israel was going to attack and so we had to as well. We were "forced" into war by Netanyahu.
That's the definition of weakness - being suckered into a war of choice that no American wants.
This is spiraling fast and they seem to have no clue or plan on how to control it.
I want to walk you through why it’s nearly certain Trump’s Iran War is going to be a massive, deadly, trillion dollar failure. And why you should be furious he’s set us on this path.
6/ If a War Powers Resolution becomes the way we debate war, then the burden is forever shifted.
Instead of the president seeking approval before starting war, the opponents need to muster the votes to stop it.
That's not how our founders designed it.
5/ That’s why Democrats should insist on an AUMF vote and a full debate on the President’s decision to plunge the U.S. back into war in the Middle East—and block other legislation until we do.
4/ And here’s the other thing: if the WPR fails (and it likely will because 50 votes defeat it, and nearly all Rs will vote against), Trump will say he has Congress’s support.
This gives Trump political cover and sets a dangerous precedent going forward.
3/ An AUMF is a vote FOR war. Trump doesn’t want to come to Congress with legislation authorizing his war because he’d need 60 votes in the Senate (which he likely wouldn't get), and it would force tough questions around the cost, timelines, and specific goals of the war.
2/ What’s the difference? A WPR is a vote AGAINST war.
I’m a co-sponsor of the WPR. But even if Congress passes it, Trump won’t sign it. It's basically symbolic.
