Donald Trump with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Melania Trump on January 8, 2025 (Office of Senator John Thune/Wikimedia Commons)
Writing at The Bulwark, Bill Kristol is pointing to three Republican Senators who over recent days told the truth about President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and possible deals to end it. The longtime conservative columnist who recently became a Democrat calls their remarks a “brief spasm of Republican truth-telling,” and “a step on the road to recovery” but warns that “the damage that’s been done is real.”
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Friday warned that Trump was “being ill advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on. Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness.”
One day later, Wicker continued his warning: “The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) also weighed in, saying he was “deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran ‘deal,’ being pushed by some voices in the administration.”
He called Trump’s decision to strike Iran “the most consequential decision of his second term,” but also issued a warning:
“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime—still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’—now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.”
Kristol also pointed to “lickspittle extraordinaire” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who dared to issue criticism.
“If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure,” Graham said, “then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate [sic] force requiring a diplomatic solution.”
Graham also mused, “it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate.”
Kristol answered Graham’s musing: “The war started because Trump and his administration are foolish and reckless and hubristic, and those in a position to check him—like Sens. Wicker and Cruz and Graham—have utterly failed to do so.”