Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has questioned whether Donald Trump was “mentally incapacitated” after the president unleashed a full-scale attack on Iran.
Kaine has been one of the most vocal critics of the U.S. engaging in overseas conflicts and has been pushing for Congress to block the president from starting a war with Iran without the authorization of Congress.
“Has President Donald Trump learned nothing from decades of U.S. meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East?” Kaine said in a scathing statement. “Is he too mentally incapacitated to realize that we had a diplomatic agreement with Iran that was keeping is nuclear program in check, until he ripped it up during his first term?”
Early Saturday, Trump announced the U.S. was carrying out a ‘major combat operation" in Iran.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump declared. “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.”
For months, the president claimed he was pushing for a deal while also issuing a series of threats. On February 19, he gave Iran a 10 to 15-day deadline. In his video on Saturday, Trump claimed Iran “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore.”
In his eight-minute video around 3 am ET, Trump specifically referred to the operation as a “war” and warned there may be American casualties.
“For months, I have raised hell about the fact that the American people want lower prices, not more war—especially wars that aren’t authorized by Congress as required by the Constitution, and don’t have a clear objective," Kaine said in his statement.
He called the strikes a colossal mistake and called for the Senate to return and vote on his War Powers Resolution, stating: “Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action.”
The Virginia Democrat’s questioning of Trump’s mental acuity comes as there have been multiple reports leading up to the attack that the president’s top military advisers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan “Raisin” Caine, objected to a major operation against Iran.
The Washington Post reported Caine warned a full-scale attack could put Americans at significant risk due to depleted munitions and a lack of support from allies.
Critics of the president on social media immediately started calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to remove Trump from office in response to the attack. Section 4 allows the vice president, a majority of Cabinet secretaries or another body designated by Congress to declare the president unable to fulfill the duties of office.
It has never been used, and the Republican-controlled Congress appears unlikely to act on its own. Senate Majority Leader John Thune responded to the attack by praising the president.
“I commend President Trump for taking action to thwart these threats,” he said in a statement. “I thank Secretary Rubio for providing updates on these issues throughout the week, and I look forward to administration officials briefing all senators about these military operations.”
Kaine, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Adam Schiff on Thursday announced they would force a vote on their War Powers Resolution to block military action in Iran in the coming days, but previous efforts to pass other legislation against military intervention have failed.
In his own statement early on Saturday, Schumer slammed the president for his “fitful cycles of lashing out” while calling for the Senate to quickly return to session to pass the resolution.
He warned Iran must not be able to get a nuclear weapon but argued Americans do not want another endless war in the Middle East.
“The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat,” Schumer said. “Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”
A group of House Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday also vowed to force a vote on the bipartisan War Powers Resolution introduced by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, when the House reconvenes next week.
In his video, Trump announced “bombs will be dropped everywhere” and called on the Iranian people to rise up and “take over your government.”
In his own video, Khanna slammed Trump, calling for regime change and warned the American people do not want the U.S. fighting in endless regime change wars that cost billions of dollars.
Others including retired Major General Paul Eaton, who served as an Army commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom and is working to get Democrats elected in November, called out the president’s mixed message on the strikes, warning the operations seem to have “no focus.”
“Trump says they’re to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but just last year he said we ‘obliterated’ that program. It seems to be targeting missile sites, but Trump says it is to stoke regime change,” Eaton said. “A war without focus is a war with no tangible goals. And a war with no goals ends up a Forever War.”
