Trump Awaiting Saudi Direction on How “We” Proceed With Iran

Over the last 24 hours, the hours after the attack on Saudi refineries, Trump has been on a radical tweet storm. Most, by far, whine about how Democrats are now his worst enemy (see the column I published previously), defending Kavanaugh, plus – of course – congratulating himself in an embarrassing way. All this, with a few tweets “sprinkled in” about a possible pending war, with Iran. Truly, unbelievable, in any other context.

This one is the most concerning:

Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019

Now, our friends at Dkos are screaming for immediate impeachment on that tweet alone, which is rather absurd, given all the previous actions justifying removal. Some outrage hyperbole slips in at Dkos from time to time.

This tweet “alone” doesn’t rise to impeachment status. But, if he were to actually “act” on the Saudi direction or desire, and without consulting Congress, THAT would be something requiring immediate impeachment proceedings.

The tweet itself can’t really stand for much of anything, because his tweets are so ridiculous on so many things that no one tweet – in isolation –  should be taken as indicative of actionable policy.

But that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a response from Democrats AND Republicans in Congress. Every single person holding a seat in Congress should be telling Trump that he needs to go to Congress for authorization. Democrats in the House ought to be saying that under no circumstances will they fund a damn thing until Trump awaits Congress’s response.

It is horrifying to contemplate that this man, given his obvious instability, sits with the trigger in his hands. It is not hyperbole to say that literally anything could happen, given his temperament and lack of interest in any expert’s opinion. As we have said MANY times, all the “adults in the room” are gone, every single one. There is no limit on what could happen.

At this point, the only comforting factor is that Trump seems terrified of actually firing a shot in any situation. That is, of course, not a wholly bad thing. But, the basis is his fear, knowing that he might get in a situation where he is on the losing end politically and on the battle field. We have seen this play out before with respect to Iran. Again, I’m quite grateful he hasn’t actually started a big military commitment. It is his lack of analysis and fear that concerns me.

The response to the tweet shouldn’t be “impeachment,” it should  get a massive blowback from Congress, today. For all we know, he could order hundreds of missiles from limitless platforms, drones, air craft carries, subs, bases in Qatar, or even from Afghanistan, all raining down on Iran, initiating a war that we do not want. Iran is not Iraq. Iran has a real military, it is a far larger country than Iraq, and we’ve had enough problems in much weaker countries in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of people, many Americans, would die, all for MBS’s needs, and what Trump believes is best for him, no different than any other decision he makes.

And, for all we know, Trump really is just awaiting MBS’s opinion right now. Trump is likely totally compromised by MBS. Trump ignored Congress’s response to Khashoggi’s murder. We know that Jared told the crown prince to “wait till this all blows over.” That sounds like someone wholly compromised. It likely is that Trump needs MBS’s direction.

Which is terrifying.

But for today, a call for impeachment on this tweet would actually get in the way of the message needed. The message should be: “Don’t do a thing without going to Congress, period, full stop.”

For today.

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Peace, please please, have peace.

Jason

[email protected], and Twitter, @MiciakZoom