Even when Sen. Moran criticizes war in Iran, he’s not picking at Trump | Opinion
Sen. Jerry Moran is pushing back on President Donald Trump’s handling of the war in Iran.
Not a lot. A little.
And not in ways that would actually get the Kansas Republican crosswise with the president.
It’s pushback nonetheless. Which is notable in its own right — the senator isn’t known for being a profile in courage — but also a yet another sign that the president’s unilateral decision to start a war in the Middle East really isn’t going all that well.
There were two moments this week when Moran stepped forward.
The first happened on Tuesday. Moran took to the Senate floor to critique Trump’s decision to temporarily lift oil sanctions on Russia and Iran, part of the White House’s bid to ease the pressure on gasoline prices that have surged after the Islamic regime shut down the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic.
Lifting sanctions on Iran is an extremely odd thing to do in the middle of a war with, ahem, Iran. It gives the regime an infusion of money that will let it continue to fight. That doesn’t make sense: Franklin Roosevelt didn’t cut checks to the Axis powers during World War II, did he?
The temporary sanction waivers “signal desperation to the Iranian regime and reinforces that their strategy of taking the Strait of Hormuz hostage is working,” Moran said, and made the obvious point: “The infusion of money for Tehran will enable it to rebuild capabilities that have been degraded over the past several weeks.”
When he’s right, he’s right.
Boots on the ground?
The second moment happened Wednesday, behind closed doors.
Administration officials gave classified briefings on the war to both the House and Senate, but they apparently weren’t very forthcoming about when or if Trump will put the proverbial “boots on the ground” in Iran as the war — primarily an air campaign so far — continues.
The New York Times reported that Moran was one of a handful of GOP senators who “complained about how limited the information was, including requests for details on the cost of the military campaign.”
Like I said: pushback.
But also: limited.
Why? Because despite his complaints, Moran, like almost all of his GOP colleagues, isn’t doing much to make the Trump administration pay for its missteps.
The Senate on Tuesday — the same day as Moran’s floor speech — voted to knock back a resolution that would force Trump to withdraw American forces from Iran unless Congress gives its approval to continue the war.
So Moran isn’t against the war. He’s just against fighting it badly.
Like the Russians in Ukraine, the Iranian regime “believes it can endure pain for longer than its neighbors and the United States,” he said. “It is up to us to make sure that, that bet they both lose.”
Moran criticized policies, not Trump
The funny thing about the senator’s Tuesday speech is that while it criticized Trump’s policies, it was careful not to criticize Trump himself. Moran framed his speech as offering a better path to fulfilling Trump’s policy goals and desires. “President Trump’s sanctions are an essential component to the efforts to pressure (Vladimir) Putin into ending his war and forcing Iran to come to the negotiating table,” Moran said. “This tool is more important than ever.”
The problem? Trump doesn’t agree. If he did, he wouldn’t have lifted the sanctions in the first place.
When the war in Iraq went bad under George W. Bush, Republicans argued among themselves if the invasion was a misguided idea or whether the Bush administration just executed it incompetently. In fact, both notions were correct. Despite America’s conventional military dominance, it appears the same scenario is playing out in Iran.
Which leaves Moran attempting a tricky, and probably doomed, balancing act: He’s saying the emperor has no clothes — even as he roots for the emperor’s success.
