Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and other hawks eagerly anticipated a U.S. attack on Iran last week in the midst of that country’s protests. The U.S. struck Iran in June, then backed off, but might a new attack be the beginning of a regime change?
Graham clearly hoped so. Wednesday night felt like the brink of war.
But President Donald Trump chose not to strike.
Graham seemed sad about this. He even said, in a hushed and defeated tone to reporters on Thursday, that he was flying to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the matter. The senator vowed on X that the U.S. and Israel would “stand up to evil,” observing, “We live in a time of great consequence with the Middle East on the verge of previously unimaginable change. Standing together and following through on our commitments only makes us stronger.”
The “unimaginable change” Graham meant was regime change war.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene translated him: “Senate goes into recess and Lindsey Graham hops on plane to South Caro.. er scratch that, Israel because he’s devastated Trump didn’t bomb Iran so he has to scheme with Bibi to find another way to pressure Trump to bomb Iran.”
Or as MAGA luminary Steve Bannon comically put it, “Lady Lindsey is so broken … he’s on a plane to go over and sob and put his head on Netanyahu’s shoulder and have Netanyahu burp him like a little baby because he’s all upset now that President Trump didn’t take his advice.”
“Him and Tel Aviv Levin,” Bannon added, referring to neoconservative talk host Mark Levin.
Of course, the Tucker Carlson-obsessed, self-identified “Great One” was upset too. After Trump didn’t order an attack, Levin worried the war drums might die down. “WARNING!” he posted on X. “I am concerned as time goes on, the immediacy and imperative of helping the people in Iran will begin to fade…”
Levin added, “At some point there will be an accounting for all of this, of those within Iran who are committing these genocidal atrocities, and those in the West who’ve done nothing.”
“The West” presumably meaning first and foremost the United States, a country many Trump voters once wanted to prioritize above the interests of other countries.
But the obviously down-in-the-dumps Levin was still hopeful that the president would eventually embroil the U.S. in a war with Iran. “I believe strongly that President Trump is a historic and great leader who will do what he said,” Levin predicted on Thursday. “Given all that is swirling around about Iran, I would like to share this with you. I have no inside information, as I repeatedly state, but I do believe that President Trump will, in fact, do as he has said with the Iranian regime.”
Washington Post neocon and former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen shares Levin’s hope and expectation. “I predict that before the year is out, Trump will visit a free Tehran — and receive a hero’s welcome from the Iranian people,” he posted on X.
“MIGA!” Thiessen added. To be clear, this stands for “Make Iran Great Again,” a slogan never heard throughout the 2024 presidential election but that is now on the lips and heads of establishment Washington hawks.
Not to be outdone, pro-Iran-war Republican Senator Ted Cruz made a video. “I want to talk directly to the people of Iran,” Cruz says, strutting with confidence through the corridors of Congress. “You need to know America stands with you,” Cruz vowed. “President Trump has your backs.”
One former Republican congressman sang a very different tune on Thursday morning, instead thanking Trump for not taking the U.S. to war yet again.
“We’re favorable toward them not dropping bombs while we slept last night,” Ron Paul said on his podcast. “That wouldn’t have been good because evidently, they may have discovered Iran is not an easy target, and it’s going to last longer than 24 hours.”
The libertarian icon was expressing practical reasons for which the president might have decided to resist war with Iran, reasons that you will never hear from hawks like Graham, Levin, Thiessen, and Cruz—each of whom still has an affinity for the Iraq War despite its disastrous results, and does not mind attempting to repeat it in a country three times the size of Iraq.
For neocons, war comes first. The fewer questions and concerns the better. Worrying about long-term goals and results, protracted missions, American lives, Iranian lives, U.S. national security, financial health, and Mideast stability are nuisances to be dealt with later.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump put America first. Lindsey Graham and his friends hope he stops doing that.
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