‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran | US politics
Some US politicians have reacted with concern and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive and expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the damn strait”. [of Hormuz]”crazy bastards,” threatening further attacks on the country’s energy and transportation infrastructure.
The American president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Tuesday will be the day of power plants and the day of bridges, all rolled into one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the fucking Straits, you crazy bastards, or you will live in hell – JUST LOOK! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.»
This comes as the Trump administration inches closer to a new self-imposed deadline – this time, Tuesday evening – for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. One of the world’s most critical shipping lanes for oil and gas, the strait has been effectively closed since the United States and Israel launched war against Iran in late February, causing oil prices around the world to soar to record levels.
Trump has threatened Tehran with multiple delays in a bid to reopen the key maritime corridor, and has focused his frustration on European and NATO allies who have rejected the legality of the US-Israeli war against Iran and refused to intervene in the Strait of Hormuz crisis – prompting Trump to threaten to withdraw the US from NATO.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, communications deputy at the Iranian president’s office, said Sunday that Iran would only open the strait after receiving compensation for war damages, paid through a “new legal regime” based on transit fees.
He added that Trump, with his threats to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure over the closure of the strait, had “resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of pure desperation and anger.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch ally turned Trump critic, said anyone in the Trump administration who claims to be Christian must “beg God for forgiveness” and intervene in the president’s “madness.”
In a lengthy post on
She continued: “The Strait is closed because the United States and Israel launched an unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they have been telling for decades, that Iran would develop a nuclear weapon at any time.
“You know who has nuclear weapons? Israel. They are more than capable of defending themselves without the United States having to fight its wars, killing innocent people and children, and paying for it. Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges is harming the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed to be freeing.”
After years of loyalty, Greene broke with Trump last year by criticizing his strikes on Iran last June, seeing them as a rollback on her campaign promise to put “America first” and avoid costly foreign wars.
“This is NOT what we promised the American people when they voted overwhelmingly in 2024, I know, I was there more than most,” Greene wrote on Sunday. “This doesn’t make America great, it’s evil.”
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s speech sounded like that of an “unhinged madman.” He wrote on
“He threatens possible war crimes and alienates his allies. That’s who he is, but that’s not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”
Bernie Sanders, an independent U.S. senator, called him “dangerous and mentally unbalanced.” He said on
Senator Chris Murphy also called the situation completely unbalanced. He wrote on
Invoking the 25th Amendment would declare the president unfit for office, thereby allowing the vice president to become president – although the chances of that happening seem slim.
Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, also said that even as Trump “curses and threatens war crimes,” he is “failing” U.S. troops in Iran who remain under fire even though the president claimed to have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities. He told NBC’s Meet the Press: “We must end this war now. We need an immediate ceasefire. Iran, Israel and the United States must stop their bombing and reach a negotiated settlement.”
Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator who sits on the Armed Services Committee, urged Trump to “please cut back on the rhetoric.” Also speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Kaine said Trump’s language was “embarrassing and juvenile” and increased the risk to the U.S. military.
Indeed, Trump’s threats follow an intense 48-hour rescue operation targeting two American pilots in Iran. Trump said in an article published earlier Sunday that the second rescued pilot was “severely injured” and was a “well-respected colonel.”
Jake Auchincloss, a Democratic Rep. and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, told Fox News on Sunday: “Iran recognizes that, in fact, its control over the strait is even more strategically vital to it than the development of a nuclear weapon.” »
“Strategically, this war was a failure,” he added.
Trump’s Easter Sunday threat follows a U.S. military strike on Iran’s largest bridge last Thursday that killed at least eight people and injured 95. The B1 bridge between Tehran and Karaj appeared to be hit twice and Trump shared video of the aftermath.
The war has killed more than 3,500 people in the region, including more than 1,200 people in Lebanon who were killed during bombings and partial occupation by Israel, and has displaced more than 4 million people across Iran and Lebanon.
