No one’s going to argue that the heads of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was a bad man. At one time he and Trump were in business together, laundering money through a Trump Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan. The CIA made then-candidate Trump end that shady business. But even without the Trump connection, Soleimani was still a bad guy-- a real bad guy. Trump had him assassinated-- without congressional approval-- today. Trump also had Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis killed early on Friday in an air strike on their convoy at Baghdad airport. Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias, announced that “The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani.” Here’s how the right-wing media reported the assassinations:Even as big a Trump ass-licker as Tucker Carlson noted that there was no congressional debate “but America appears to be lumbering toward a new Middle East war. Nd we have to say that it’s one that official Washington has wanted for decades. For example, disgraced former national security advisor John Bolton has made it his life’s mission to start a war with Iran. And tonight Bolton may be finally getting his wish. Should you be happy about that, that’s the question. Well, the last time we took John Bolton’s advice in the region, Iran became far more powerful than it was before we took John Bolton’s advice.” He then went on to explain why the invasion from the southern border is worse than “the Persian menace.”This crisis is entirely of Trumpanzee’s making. From the very start, he surrounded himself with hardline war-mongers who have been driving him towards war since the first week he occupied the White House. Remember, he foolishly walked away from a historic diplomatic agreement with Iran and put the U.S. on an entirely avoidable collision course with the country. The nuts on right-wing twitter are trying to claim that this was bigger than the killing of Osama bin-Laden. I suspect it may be more consequential-- and not in a good way. This was a random selection of tweets from my feed just as I put this up to publish. And Ben Rhodes is right: this is not reality TV. And it is not a game.Ro Khanna (D-CA) just tweeted that "Any member who voted for the NDAA-- a blank check-- can't now express dismay that Trump may have launched another war in the Middle East. My Amendment, which was stripped, would have cut off funds for any offensive attack against Iran including against officials like Soleimani." So... Democrats who start whining now-- and there will be many-- need to be reminded how they voted on the NDAA. Only 41 Democrats voted NO, including Khanna himself, of course. The others included AOC (NY), Barbara Lee (CA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), Jamie Raskin (MD), Ayanna Pressely (MA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Raul Grijalva (AZ), Andy Levin (MI), Joe Neguse (CO), Judy Chu (CA), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Steve Cohen (TN), Tulsi (HI), Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ), Jerry Nadler (NY), Chuy Garcia (IL)... So where were all the freshmen the DCCC elected last year? Voting with the GOP, of course. (By the way, there would have been 42 Democrats but Ted Lieu was recuperating in the hospital and unable to cast a vote.) So, of course, this is TRump's fault-- but among his enablers were just 189 House Republicans, but also 188 House Democrats including Pelosi, Hoyer, Bustos, Lipinski, O'Halleran, Wasserman Schultz, Cuellar, Costa, Adam Schiff, who knows more than most just how dangerous Trump is, and Abby Finkenauer (D-IA) who has been all over the news today for endorsing Status Quo Joe.
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