Republican Congressman Rips Trump Administration’s ‘Contradictory’ Iran Messages: ‘Say Less’

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) bluntly told President Donald Trump and his officials to “say less” about the Iran war during a CNN appearance on Tuesday.

Bacon joined Jake Tapper on CNN’s The Lead, where the congressman accused Trump of “handicapping” himself on Iran by not preparing for a longer fight and not including Democrats in his efforts early on.

“Trump is essentially saying that now the strategy is, you know, giving Iran the old talk-to-the-hand treatment. What do you make of this? Is this what you would advise him to do?” Tapper asked Bacon.

“I think this is a better strategy than what we have had. The blockade is probably the easier thing for us to enforce. Right now we’ve been able to choke almost all the traffic going in and out of Iran. That’s good,” Bacon said, referring to the Strait of Hormuz.

He continued:

Their economy is really struggling. It’s going to really weaken the regime. However, I would say that Iran had been fairly effective up until now, shutting off about 90% of the flow of traffic, but we’re starting to see more traffic get in and out of there and that’s a good thing.

The problem, I think, with the president early in this fight, he overpromised it’s going to be a quick fight. And then he tried to go it alone without trying to bring in Democrats or trying to involve Congress and you can’t fight a war in a partisan manner. It’s got to be a bipartisan fight. And he should have anticipated a more of a longer term fight. I really think this is handicapping him now because the Democrats do not want to work with the president on this and this needs to be a bipartisan effort.

I have to remind folks, Iran has killed a thousand Americans. They were the leading exporter of terror, they had 1000 ballistic missiles, they were trying to produce a nuclear weapon. Some action had to be taken, if not with this president, maybe previous presidents, but something this could not be allowed to continue like this. I think the president is on to a strategy of blockade. I also recommend, say less. There should be fewer people talking on this because there’s contradictory messages going out there. Speak softly, but carry a big stick.

Trump and his officials have released contradictory statements before about the state of the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran. Most recently, Trump contradicted his own son-in-law Jared Kushner by saying there are no current talks with Iran. Kushner had said only the day before that negotiations were ongoing.

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

Bacon argued Trump has found himself in a “corner” with the war proving unpopular in polling. He insisted if Trump had gone forward in a less “partisan” way, he’d have more support from Democrats.

“He’s sort of put us in a spot where he’s backed into a corner with this being an unpopular war,” he said. “And it just goes back to the beginning. He had to have this be a bipartisan effort, not a one-man band. That’s what it became.”

Watch above via CNN.

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