The imminent war with Iran seems to have been put off, as no one seems to have the appetite to follow through on trump’s threats to start WW3. But a new war of words seems to have been launched by a couple of Republican Senators.
It all got triggered by the perfunctory briefing by administration officials to the Senate this afternoon, where they expected Senators to just nod their heads, be “good boys and girls” and “run along.” That, for some reason, triggered Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee to go ballistic on TV with a salvo of very angry words for the administration.
Here is the full video of the Mike Lee interview on Fox -
Lee said the officials warned that Congress would "embolden" Iran if lawmakers debated Trump's war powers.
Mike Lee: I find this insulting and demeaning ... to the office that each of the 100 senators in this building happens to hold. I find it insulting and demeaning to the Constitution of the United States.
Mike Lee: It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can't debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It's un-American. It's unconstitutional and it's wrong.
Mike Lee: This was probably the worst briefing I've seen on military issues in the nine years I've been here.
Rand Paul: Absurd, insulting, ...
Both senators indicated they would now be supporting the upcoming Democratic resolution limiting the administration's powers to launch military strikes targeting Iran. Sen. Tim Kaine, the sponsor of the resolution, was quick to thank them and spread the news. Good move.
This then triggered lapdog Lindsey Graham to give his own defense of trump by trashing these two Senators, mocking them, saying that “they weren’t real patriots” for criticizing trump and the administration, and throwing out his usual balderdash that the Democratic resolution to constrain presidential war powers was unconstitutional and flinging the oft-used Republican words like “empowering the enemy”.
About an hour ago, Rand Paul got to respond to Graham’s insinuations about him and he did not pull his punches -
Rand Paul: I think it’s sad when people have this fake sort of drape of patriotism and anybody that disagrees with them is not a patriot. I love my country. I have many family members that serve in the military and continue to serve. I love my country as much as the next guy. For him to insult and say we’re not as patriotic as he is, he hasn’t read the history of the Constitution, he insults the Constitution, our founding fathers, and what we do stand for in this republic by making light of it and accusing people of lacking patriotism. I think that’s a low, gutter type of response.
Many people have written that Congress and senators have abdicated their role in declaring war. That’s true. What Sen. Lee and I are doing is standing up and saying the power resides in Congress and we’re going to fight for it.
Questions:
- Why are these two Senators bucking the trend among Republicans who simply toe the trump line?
- Why today? These two have been major supporters of trump so far.
- Is war a bridge too far for some Republicans?
- Is this a crack that will open wider?
- Or is this all posturing, trying to steal the spotlight and will they fall in line eventually?
- How will trump aim his fire at them? Will he neuter them as he has done with every other Republican leader?