South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) got mighty upset this morning when Meet the Press host Kristen Welker asked him if Donald Trump has any actual plan for what happens next in Iran after he ordered coordinated air strikes on the country with Israel.
Welker began the interview by asking Graham: “Is the United States at war with Iran?”
“I think the Ayatollah would say yeah,” Graham replied. “I don’t know if this is technically a war, but here’s what I can say the headline is for me Sunday. The mother ship of terrorism is sinking, the captain is dead. The largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is close to collapsing.”
Welker then referenced the death of Ali Khamenei, the former Supreme Leader of Iran, who was killed in the Saturday attack.
“Will the United States pick the next leader of Iran, or will the Iranian people pick the next leader?”
“No. There will be no American boots on the ground,” Graham responded. “This is not Iraq, this is not Germany, this is not Japan. We’re going to free the people up from the terrorist regime. And the goal is not only to help the Iranian people to chart a new destiny, to make sure no matter who takes over in Iran, no matter who it is, no matter who the people pick, they cannot become the largest state sponsor of terrorism. They can’t fuel Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. They can’t have ballistic missiles, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. They will be out of the terrorism business. So the people will pick.”
Welker then asked Graham, “Senator, history tells us just how complicated regime change is,” Welker said. “We saw that when Saddam Hussein was ousted, and the terror threat and group moved in. How will the United States make sure that the next Iranian government isn’t worse than the current regime?”
Clearly triggered by the question, Graham replied, “That’s not our job, to pick the next Iranian government. I don’t remember being attacked by Iraq anytime, you know, in the past. Iraq is complicated, but you know, we have a relationship with Iraq. It’s up to Iran to pick your leader. It’s not my job, it’s not President Trump’s job. We’re not going to occupy the country. We’re going to give the people of Iran a chance to do something they’ve never had before: chart their own destiny.”
Welker quoted a social media posting from Trump this morning that read, “Hopefully the IRGC and police will peacefully merge with the Iranian patriots and work together as a unit to bring back the country to the greatness it deserves.”
“Is hope the plan for the future of Iran?” she inquired of the senator.
“No,” Graham said. “The future of Iran is going to be determined by the Iranian people. The new Iran, whatever it is, whether it’s a cleric, or a representative democracy, our goal is to make sure it cannot become again the largest state sponsor of terrorism. That’s a win for us. That’s a win for the region.
“But is there a plan to make sure that happens, Senator?” Welker wondered. “Is there a plan? Does the President have a plan to guarantee that that happens?”
That led Graham to almost pitch a hissy fit.
“No, it’s not his job or my job to do this! How many times do I have to tell you?! Our job is to make sure Iran is no longer the largest state sponsor of terrorism, to help the people reconstruct a new government, no boots on the ground. You know this idea, ‘you break it, you own it?’ I don’t buy that one bit.”
In other words, Lindsey has no plan for what to do next, and neither does his tangerine lord and savior, Donald Trump. They’re just making this shit up as they go along, and if it all blows up in their faces, they’ll just shrug their shoulders and tell a few more lies while American servicemembers are killed.
This is the Trump War, and his bluster won’t save him when it all goes down the crapper.
Here’s the video:
