Ex-Republican strategist: Trump will sell merch off fallen soldiers' caskets

President Donald Trump’s response to the Iran war he started “crosses every line,” according to a former Republican strategist who advised President George W. Bush.

“What's happening in Iran should concern every American because soon the caskets with American flags will be coming home, and Trump no doubt will be standing there with his campaign merchandise on his head, selling it on his website for $75, raising money off of America's fallen war dead,” Steve Schmidt posted on the social media platform X on Monday. “No doubt the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who preposterously calls himself the Secretary of War, will be inventing tales of how the father of a fallen soldier asked him to complete the mission in Jesus' name. No doubt.”

From there Schmidt included a clip of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoting Christian scripture to rationalize America’s invasion of Iran.

This is not the first time Schmidt has put Trump on blast. Earlier in March he observed that Trump appears to be “crashing out” in the polls, arguing that “everybody sees all of this. Clearly, support for Donald Trump is hitting as low as 30% in some polls, and in this one at 36% approval, 62% of the country not approving. And yet Trump thinks he's more popular than ever.”

Also in March, Schmidt argued that Trump’s Iran war had left him “unmasked, naked and despised” before the world. Gas prices “are going to go much higher” instead of falling as Trump promised they would during his 2024 presidential campaign, and “the first dead Americans have started to come home, but the story of American casualties is just beginning as the 82nd Airborne and US Marine expeditionary units prepare for an assault on Iranian territory.”

Schmidt then added, “Prices are rising, airports have gone off the rails, gas is sky high, and America is losing a war to Iran because it was planned by fools. Everywhere there is disaster, and it has not gone unnoticed by the American people.”

The political strategist then observed that Democrats have won in every special election where there was a contested race since 2024 and flipped districts no one expected them to win. Republicans by contrast have not had a single upset.

“The walls are closing in, and yes, there will be elections,” Schmidt said. “A few months back I predicted that Donald would be hovering around 30% approval by the end of March. This is where the deranged 79-year-old is headed.” Aside from “the MAGA nihilists,” Schmidt predicted that “all across the country the American people are going to act against MAGA with ruthless glee. Trump is going to be rebuked at the polls like no president has been in the modern era. It will be a crushing blow, a historic landslide, a knockout.”

Schmidt has also denounced the White House for what he described as corruption.

“My friends, it is all madness,” Schmidt argued. “The White House is an asylum. The president is deranged. He is a predator and criminal, and he is immoral, abusive and dishonest. He is a liar and charter member of the Epstein class.” He also asked, “Why is Melania Trump selling a $600 “Freedom” necklace out of the White House? Why is Kai Trump selling an apparel line? Why is every Trump selling something?”