JD Vance hinted today, in a speech in Hungary, that the guy he used to view as unfit for the presidency might literally use the nuclear option in Iran.
Vance, at an event that had him on stage beside dictator Viktor Orban, said the U.S. has military options it “so far” hasn’t “decided to use,” which sure sounds like he’s suggesting the use of nukes.
This, as Donald Trump left lingering a threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if a deal is not reached, and Iranian leaders are doing the French knights bit from “Monty Python,” telling Trump to “boil his bottoms,” that his “mother was a hamster,” and his “father smelt of elderberries.”
“They’ve got to know we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct,” Vance said.
ICYMI
A White House Twitter account is denying that Trump and Vance are talking about the end of the known world coming in a few hours, but then there’s this from Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to The Hill:
“The Iranian regime has until 8 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States. Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do.”
It’s Taco Tuesday, so odds are that Trump will move the goalposts to 8 p.m. Eastern some other day, probably “two or three weeks” from now, but even so.
“Threatening to end an entire civilization is beyond depraved. Where are Republicans? Will they speak out against this open threat to commit war crimes or continue their reckless, dangerous silence?” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement posted to his socials.
None of our local Republicans are speaking out, so.
And just to help Warner here: replace “reckless” with “feckless,” to make your comment stand out.
Don Beyer: Unleashed
We also got this lengthy statement from Northern Virginia Congressman Don Beyer:
“My Republican colleagues in Congress continue to abdicate their duty and turn a blind eye as the President makes unhinged threats to obliterate an entire civilization in clear violation of basic human decency and American ideals.
“This is a moral failure and cowardice of the highest order. Speaker Johnson must bring the House of Representatives back into session immediately to reclaim its constitutional authority, serve as a desperately needed check on this increasingly erratic president, and vote on a War Powers Resolution to put an end to this madness at once.
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“For decades, across both parties and all three branches of government, we have collectively failed to rein in the expansion of presidential power. Authority that the Constitution explicitly entrusted to Congress has steadily been ceded to the executive, eroding one of the most fundamental checks in our system. The Supreme Court compounded this failure by granting sweeping immunity to the President, further insulating the office from accountability. Today, that unchecked power rests in the hands of an immoral and unwell man willing to wield it recklessly, and the world is holding its breath.
“We have missed multiple opportunities to stop us from careening down this awful path. Senate Republicans confirmed a longtime advocate for war crimes and war criminals to be Secretary of Defense, despite his manifest unfitness for the job. Congress failed to stop unlawful boat strikes in the Caribbean that have killed dozens, many of them innocent fishermen, and in doing so allowed a dangerous precedent to take hold.
“When my colleagues who served in uniform sought to remind their fellow servicemembers of their duty to oppose illegal orders, the administration’s response was to attempt to prosecute and sanction them.
“The message from Secretary Hegseth and President Trump has been a clear and consistent endorsement of impunity for criminal acts under the color of our flag. And Republicans in the House and Senate have pulled out all the stops on multiple occasions to defeat War Powers Resolutions that would have stopped this war.
“Now, the President is emboldened and untethered from consequences. He is escalating threats that, if carried out, would constitute egregious war crimes committed on behalf of the United States government and the American people. This moment demands urgent congressional intervention.
“The American people are under no illusion about the gravity of this moment. They know this is not normal, not justified, and not making us safer. They expect their elected representatives to decisively act, not retreat into silence out of blind allegiance to the President.
“The House cannot continue to stand idly by as this crisis deepens. I again call on Speaker Johnson to immediately bring the House back into session and ensure that this President does not further dishonor our country by carrying out this blatantly illegal and immoral threat.”
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Chris Graham
