(AFP) – US President Donald Trump did not take a break from his polarizing rhetoric on Easter Sunday, delivering an expletive-laden attack on Iran that sparked criticism on Capitol Hill and beyond.
“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” the president wrote just after 8:00 am, renewing his threat to unleash heavy bombing on Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran refused to unblock the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “Praise be to Allah,” he added, apparently sardonically, after ending another threatening message a day earlier with “Glory be to GOD!”
While the Republican president is well known for his straight talk, the post on his Truth Social network raised eyebrows, especially on a Christian holiday. “Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X.
“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.” For Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who opposes the war in Iran, Trump’s attitude was “completely, utterly unhinged.” Murphy added: “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment,” referring to the clause that provides for a transfer of power if the president is unable to serve.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, also a Democrat, noted it was not the first time that the 79-year-old Trump had used stark language since the US and Israel launched their assault on the Islamic republic in late February. “Bombing them back to the Stone Age, cursing them,” Kaine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” news program. “This is all embarrassing and juvenile, and it’s people trying to act like they’re puffed up and tough, when what we really see from the administration in this war is the absence of a plan, the absence of a clear rationale.”
– ‘Stop worshipping the president’ – Criticism was not limited to Trump’s Democratic opponents. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman who was once a staunch Trump backer but now a fervent critic, slammed his message, especially on Easter Sunday. “Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” Greene said in a post on X. “Our President is not a Christian and his words and actions should not be supported by Christians,” said Greene, who opposes US military interventions abroad.
Some, however, praised Trump’s fiery rhetoric. Conservative firebrand commentator Laura Loomer, who speaks regularly with Trump and has described herself as an Islamophobe, had nothing but praise. “This is what I voted for. Bomb jihadis back to the Stone Age where their mentality permanently lives,” Loomer wrote on X. “Trump said he’s going to bomb their infrastructure in Iran, and then he said ‘Praise be to Allah’. On Easter. Amazing. Just amazing.”
– Robin LEGRAND
© 2024 AFP
