Trump Faces Backlash From Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz Over Iran Deal Confusion and Rising Gas Prices

We have a vested interest in a good outcome from this Iran war as soon as possible. We all do. Right. We're all affected by what's going on over there. And everybody defines a good outcome differently, obviously. But for me, a good outcome is one that puts real, tangible safeguards around that Iranian regime, not just with their nuclear power, but with their state sponsor of terrorism. If you weren't going to get those two things, why did you ever go in? That's the question that has to be asked. If you're not going to walk out of there definitively being able to tell the American people how one, you are stopping their nuclear program, not just reigning it in right there, just putting some hurdles to it, but stopping it and how you're going to cut off Iran's ability to continually be the world's largest state sponsor of terror. What were you doing? What was the point of any of it?

Trump Sparks Confusion After Claiming Iran Deal Was Close Without Explaining Terms

And so a lot of people, because people, a lot of people get focused on the state of horror movies or this and that. There's no way, there's no way Trump went in to Iran or Trump's advisors allowed him to go into Iran without knowing that was going to get shut down. Like, that's what blows my mind, is that anybody thinks there was any surprise in what happened with gas prices. That was always going to be the outcome. Gas prices were always going to go up. You think Iran was going to be like, well, they're killing us left and right. They're blowing up our buildings. They're crushing our military. We'll just let oil keep flowing through here, and we won't cause any disruptions whatsoever. No, Iran is a cornered animal. When you corner an animal, they lash out. They're going to attack you in any way possible. They're going to hurt you in any way possible. And the obvious answer to that was cutting off oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. And that's what happened. Iran, the biggest card Iran had to play was disrupting the American and world economy. And they did it. And to some extent, it's working based on the fact that they still have a functioning government. Now, of course, the Americans took out, we took out, the American military took out some key players, a lot of military bases, things related to the nuclear programs. But the same set of lunatics with the same set of ideals is still in charge and war. What? Let's see, we're all of March, all of April now, all of May. We're three months in, and they're still there. So if you're the Iranians, it's been pretty successful based on what you can realistically hope to have occur or obtain. I mean, really, you can make a case. And I said this with the Ukrainians when Russia went into Ukraine, you know, you define winning by staying alive. When your success is judged by do you still exist? It's a pretty low bar to hop over. And the Iranians still exist, and they're causing huge havoc with the American government, with the American economy, with the world economy. And that's always their goal. It's like Survivor, outwit, outlast, outplay, and just hope they give in in an election year. And so it brings us to what happened this weekend, where Trump sent out this Dickens novel on Truth Social media, claiming essentially a deal was imminent with the Iranians. And Trump does this a lot. And sometimes it's like, okay, that's just annoying. And then sometimes you're like, okay, now you're causing real havoc. In which he puts out these tweets, making definitive statements without anything definitive in his back pocket. You can't as the commander in chief. And again, it's never just some one sentence thing or two sentence thing. It's these block bizarre paragraphs with capital letters, words in all caps and exclamation points. And it's impossible to read like it hurts your eyes to have to read it. And it's just like you cannot run the U.S. military this way, sir.

Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Roger Wicker Push Back on Proposed Iran Negotiations

So Trump puts out this Dickens novel about how he's got this deal imminent with the Iranians, about how it's going to be this awesome deal, but it's going to be amazing. And all these people are on board. But then there's no details of the deal. And of course, then that leads to reporting from various news outlets, from anonymous sources about what's in the deal, which is not good. Look, whether the sources are right or wrong. You, as the president of the United States, do not want uncertainty as it relates to foreign policy in the U.S. military. I heard this years ago with the economy, and in many ways it's true with our foreign policy. When it comes to the economy, Wall Street can deal with good news and Wall Street can deal with bad news. Wall Street is very, the economy is very resilient. What will tank an economy, what will cause mass havoc is uncertainty. When people don't know what the rules are, when people don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, when people don't know how to engage for success. Same thing is true with our foreign policy. You can't leave your own side guessing, sir. And that's what happened. By his own side, I mean people in his own party. People who have been his biggest fans, like Lindsey Graham. So as these details of what's allegedly in the deal start to leak out big time, Trump supporters started turning against Trump. Names like I said, include Lindsey Graham and Roger Wicker, who is a senator from Mississippi, and Ted Cruz. These guys start blowing a gasket because what they're hearing as a part of this deal, they say, won't stop the Iranians to their satisfaction and their satisfaction is stopping the Iranians from rebuilding and establishing a nuclear weapons program, which was supposed to be the whole point of the war. So by Trump tweeting out this long winded thing without any details and apparently not having his own side on board, not telling his closest supporters what's in the deal, he's now instantly turned these people against him. And again, no one knows the actual details of the deal. The biggest thing that has Graham and Cruz and Wicker pissed off. And by the way, again, it's not like you have a huge margin for error in the U.S. Senate. And you know, Thom Tillis hates your guts from North Carolina. You know, Cassidy, who you just took out in Louisiana, who still has the vote, hates your guts. You know, Rand Paul is not a fan. You know, Collins is not a fan. You know, Murkowski is not a fan. I mean, you've got all these people who already don't like you, and now you're pissing off people in your own camp because the biggest thing that they're worried about is this deal supposedly has a 60 day cease fire to finalize details on Iran's nuclear program. And what Cruz and Graham and Wicker are saying is, these guys do this all the time, Mr. President, where they claim, okay, yeah, we're on board. We just need, you know, two months to figure everything out. Sure. And then behind the scenes, they're rebuilding the nuclear program because they know that you're not coming in there to take them out. Cruz put out a tweet essentially saying this. He said, quote, if the result is that all, if the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime still run by Islamists who chant Death to America, now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake. Now, who knows if that's the actual deal. The problem is you got guys on your team. It's now friendly fire, Mr. President. And you've created this problem by putting that tweet out there without any details or informing these people of what's actually in the deal. I mean, apparently there was no, you know, behind the scenes of Trump going to these people going, okay, here's what's in the deal. Here's what we're working on. You know, what do you think about it? That's what needs to happen. You got to have all the guys you can possibly have on your team before you go out running your mouth. So it got so bad that Trump had to put out another truth, essentially contradicting himself and claiming no deal was actually done. He said, quote, the negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes. But, Mr. President, you instigated all of this by telling everybody a deal was imminent. You caused all of this. Hey, if you're working towards a deal, that's great. If you're working towards some good solution, wonderful. But you can't put out before any deal is done. Hey, the deal is done. You can't not tell people on your side who you're going to need to sell this thing, especially when you've pissed off numerous members of your own party in the Senate anyway. You can't operate in that fashion. Then Trump responds because he still didn't get the result he wanted to the criticism by attacking the people he hates and admitting a deal isn't even done, which was the whole point of his original post. So now we've gone from, oh yeah, we're just dotting the I's and crossing a few T's to yeah, you know, we're close, but it's not done. We won't sign off on anything bad to. There's no deal. You cannot, you cannot run the U.S. military this way, sir. You cannot run our society this way, sir. And of course, as he usually does, he goes after everybody who rightfully is. Question. Look, I'm no fan of Lindsey Graham. I'm no fan of Roger Wicker. I'm not really even a fan of Ted Cruz. But these guys are U.S. senators. They fund the U.S. military. They have a right to know what's in the deal. If you're going to say a deal is imminent, you have to tell the Senate. You have to tell the House, the people who you depend on for money to fund your military. And isn't it just common sense? You'd have the guys on your own team on board before you went out publicly about it. Listen to what Trump said. Look, the people who are mad at him are his guys. I mean, the usual suspects, the Tillis, the Cassidys, they're upset with him, but it's his guys. And he looks so petty and childish going after these other people who don't have anything to do with this quote. I laugh at all the Democrats, rhinos and fools who know nothing about the potential deal I am making with Iran. Right? Because you won't tell them. You anoint this deal that it's so great and it's so wonderful, and then you don't give anybody information. Things that haven't even been negotiated yet. Then how can you say the deal was so great, sir? Mr. President, how can you say this deal is so great? And now you're like, well, things haven't even been negotiated yet. Weak and ineffective people like failed Senator Thom Tillis soon out of office. Bill Cassidy, who just suffered a massive primary loss. Really bad. Congressman Thomas Massie, a major sleazebag who lost in a landslide to a great American patriot endorsed by Trump after showing tremendous disloyalty to his party and country in almost all Democrats. Sir, can we just like people's lives, are at stake. The American economy is at stake. The future of our country is at stake. The ability to afford gas is at stake. Can we just, like, have, like, when we're talking about all of those things, can we just leave out the name calling for a few minutes? If you don't have a deal, that's not the fault of Thomas Massie or Cassidy or Tillis or the people that are on your team that are being critical of this. That's the fault of you, sir. Nobody would be commenting about a deal or being critical of a potential deal, or trying to guess what's in a deal, if you hadn't put out that a deal was imminent without telling people what was in the deal. And almost all Democrats, people that have totally lost their way, constantly supporting bad policy and even worse candidates, but are constantly critical of each and every fantastic win I have. What win, sir? I think if we're being objective, you've lost every step of the way on this. Gas is at near record highs. You've been in this cease fire for well over a month now. Almost two months. Iran's regime, the essential, the power structure is still in place. You've offered nothing that shows they've agreed to curtail their nuclear program with any sort of meaningful fashion. You have nothing that's been put forward that shows they've agreed to stop being one of the world's, if not the world's, largest state sponsor of terror. What is every fantastic win we've seen out of this? And again, I want Trump to succeed. I want our country to be safe. I want the Iranians boxed in. But I don't see how any of that has happened in any shape, form or fashion so far. Still not done. In other words, they're losers. Again. How does calling Thomas Massie a loser inform me as a U.S. citizen about what's going on? And he just conveniently doesn't want to acknowledge that some of his biggest supporters, including Graham and Cruz, are saying the exact same things. They're saying the exact same things, Mr. President. These people should go home and rest. You should go home and take a nap. They do nothing but create division and loss. In other words, they're losers. The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one or there will be no deal. You put out that there was a deal, sir. Unprompted. No one made you do that. No one said, please, Mr. President, put out 93 consecutive sentence in paragraph form that no one can actually read with all sorts of caps, bizarre punctuations and bad grammar. You did that. You've created all of this mess by that tweet. If you were close on a deal, great. Don't put it out until there's a deal. If you still had things left to finalize. Then don't put it out. He's still not done. And the deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one or there will be no deal. Which was the status quo. Right. That's what negotiations are. It will be the exact opposite of the JCPoA disaster negotiated by the failed Obama administration, which was a direct path and open path to a nuclear weapon for Iran. No, I don't do deals like that. Exclamation point. And then he signed it. President DJT from his official Truth Social social media account. It does not make you a hater or a loser, or a bad guy, or a Never Trumper, or having TDS or whatever the name calling of the moment is to say, Mr. President, I'm a congressman, Mr. President, I'm a senator. Mr. President, I'm in charge of funding our military and these military operations. I want to know what the deal is, and if the guy's going to put out that he has a deal and then won't tell you what the deal is. It also doesn't make you a bad person, then to respond to reports from the media, because Trump is not being transparent. What was the deal, sir? You put the tweet out and again, this is not people who hate him. These are his biggest supporters in Graham and Wicker and Cruz.

Rising Gas Prices and Strait of Hormuz Disruptions Continue Hurting U.S. Economy

Okay, then it gets worse. Then Trump randomly starts truthing out supposed parts of the deal, which no one is still seen or agreed to. Like it was just over the weekend. It was just one thing after another. So quote. This was it was this last night he did this. The enriched uranium, nuclear dust and disease will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran destroyed in place or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission or its equivalent being witness to this process and event. All one sentence. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT. Is that done? Is it signed? Like there seem to be a lot of different options here, and none of them have been decided, sir. Which means you don't have a deal. Which means a U.S. senator or a congressman would be right to raise questions about the deal, because you don't have answers. And many of these involve a lot of moving parts, sir, that could easily be evaded by the Iranians, which is always the problem. Stop making announcements before you have deals, sir. He does this all the time. I want you to succeed. I want our country to succeed. I want the Iranians to be stopped. I want there to be some sort of control around these lunatics, not being able to get nuclear weapons, or being able to send billions of dollars to lunatics, to crazy people, to terrorists who want to kill us. I support that. But this whole endeavor, the whole endeavor, has been a colossal disaster. We appear to be no closer to stopping the Iranians. They appear to be still be in full control. Based on the fact that they control the Strait of Hormuz, they are bleeding us into submission because they don't think that Trump and the Republicans will allow this war, or this stalemate or this standoff or this cease fire or whatever to continue, as Americans get more pissed off by the day about the price of gas, and they're probably right. You can't feign outrage over people who are in charge of funding your operations to raise questions about your operations when you won't give them the answers. And then when you give answers, you appear not to have answers. Guys, it doesn't make you TDS or anti Trump to question these things. This has not gone well.

Critics Question Whether Trump Underestimated Iran Conflict and Long-Term Consequences

It appears they entered into this engagement much like Iraq thinking it was going to be easy in easy out. I think if we're being honest with ourselves, I think Trump saw how easy taking down Maduro in Venezuela was, and I think he thought it was all going to be this way. I mean, if you look at what they're doing with Cuba, with the indictment of Castro, they're setting it up exactly the way they did with Maduro. And I think he's bitten off more than he can chew. I think he's stuck. There's no way the Iranians are going to give in on the nuclear program. Certainly with any sort of account, there's no way the Iranians are going to give in sponsoring these lunatic groups like Hezbollah. There's no way the Iranians are going to just play nice with Israel. And if you were going to engage militarily with them, you had to just turn them into a parking lot or accept your loss and go home. Just end it now, sir. Turn them into a parking lot or accept your losses. Cut bait and go back to normal. This is ridiculous. And his responses are childish. You're the commander in chief. You are in charge of the lives of men and women. You are in charge of billions and billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer resources. You are in charge in many ways of the safety and stability of the world, sir. This is not how you handle things.