How Is Tucker Carlson More Antiwar Than Leading Democrats?

There is a clear hunger within the Democratic base for radical change in foreign policy. Four in five Democratic voters disapprove of Israel, while more than 90 percent oppose the war in Iran. It is therefore not surprising that candidates who strongly denounce the war and refuse money from AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization, gain support partly on this basis. Graham Platner, an anti-war and anti-genocide oyster farmer, is the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine’s Senate race. In Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, Abdul Al-Sayed, a staunch critic of Israel, is running neck and neck with Haley Stevens, a pro-Israel congresswoman, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who ultimately ended up rejecting AIPAC and accusing Israel of genocide.

But the party leadership has not met yet. In late February, while Trump was threatening daily to bomb Iran, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee reportedly tried to delay a vote on a war powers resolution. “The preferred outcome of many AIPAC-aligned Democratic senators, according to a top foreign policy adviser to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, is for Trump to act unilaterally, weakening Iran while absorbing domestic backlash before the midterms,” Capital & Empire’s Aída Chávez reported, citing sources saying House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was not marshalling votes for the resolution. Four days after this article, Trump launched his war.

Schumer and Jeffries have since criticized it, of course, and supported efforts to pass a war powers resolution. You could call this “leading from behind,” but it seems more like jumping on the bandwagon late. After all, both supported Trump’s bombing of Iran last summer. Just weeks before, Schumer had even taunted Trump for not bombing Iran quickly enough.