Republican panics at Trump’s 'little war'

It’s rare when a Republican senator peels away from President Donald Trump and openly criticizes his unilateral war on Iran, but Utah appears to be a place of rebellion.

“U.S. Sen. John Curtis was a teenager during the Vietnam War and still remembers seeing neighbors, just a few years older than he was, drafted,” reports the Salt Lake Tribune. “And once, Curtis said, he attended a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting where a group of seven young men drew straws to decide who would serve an LDS mission while the others were sent to Vietnam.”

But now, nearly six months into Trump’s unauthorized military conflict in Iran, Curtis said he’s spying echoes of the Vietnam disaster in the failings of Trump’s war.

The Iran War, he said “is a big deal” because of the absence of congressional authorization for the Iran conflict.

“[The Vietnam War] was as close to a constitutional crisis as this country has had, because we were at war, and Congress never declared war,” Curtis said. “It wasn’t a little war. We lost way too many people, even those who came home came home very damaged.”

The Department of Defense reports 28 American troops have been killed since the Iran war began in late February, and more than 750 wounded. Those casualties, reports SLT, include Southern Utah University graduate student and U.S. Army First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, who was killed during an Iranian attack on a military base in Jordan.

Despite death and casualties, Congress has failed to do its constitutional duty and define the terms of the Iran war, said Curtis, and Trump blundered by going to war without that approval.

“I can’t undo any of that — but I can insist that Congress step up and define the terms of the war,” Curtis said, adding that the war in Iran has also contributed to rising costs for voters, which will “no doubt” have ramifications in the midterms.

When Trump launched his war in late February, he promised a quick and tidy operation. But after almost half a year, the war continues and frustrated Republican insiders are desperately seeking an exit strategy that Trump is just not delivering. Now voters’ frustration with the war and the high gas and grocery costs it brings has made the midterm environment as bad for Republicans as it was "post-Watergate."

On Tuesday, CNN data guru Harry Enten broke down a new Reuters/Ipsos poll putting Trump's approval 31 points underwater, comparable to the worst days for former President George W. Bush.

Voters have always had some distrust of politicians in Washington, said Curtis, “but this feels bigger than that.”