Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) mocked her Democratic counterparts for condemning President Donald Trump for ordering a strike similar to that of his left-wing predecessors.
Trump ordered three of Iran’s nuclear sites destroyed by six 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles over the weekend. Blackburn compared it to military action past presidents took without congressional approval, while on Fox News’s The Faulkner Focus on Tuesday.
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“President Trump did what needed to be done. Article II, section II gives him that authority,” Blackburn said of the strikes, citing the Constitution. “Whether it was Clinton, Obama, or other Democrat presidents, you didn’t hear the Democrats fussing about it. They went along and didn’t say anything.”
Blackburn was referencing recent history in her defense of the president. When former President Barack Obama was in office, he ordered 125 aircraft to bomb Libya over 1,000 times over several months without congressional approval. At the time, Obama had the goal of ending Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, which was ultimately achieved by Gaddafi’s assassination in October 2011.
Democratic lawmakers did not tease the idea to impeach Obama at the time over the matter. Instead, Obama would order drones across the Middle East throughout his presidency without any accusations of violating the Constitution.
Former President Bill Clinton deployed U.S. troops to Haiti in 1994, bombed Bosnia in 1995, bombed Iraq in 1996, and bombed Sudan in 1998, all without consulting Congress. While he did face an impeachment trial, it had nothing to do with his military action but instead his affair with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
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Trump’s effort required seven B-2 bomber aircraft, six 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, one submarine, and 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Since Saturday night, there hasn’t been any further military action, and there haven’t been any reported U.S. fatalities. Trump has also since helped negotiate a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after Israel began its own series of strikes over a week ago.
The Tennessee senator echoed her colleague Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) in his expressed support for the “entirely appropriate” series of strikes against Iran. While on Fox News’s Fox and Friends on Monday, Fetterman also implied that he’d be against any effort to impeach Trump because “if you throw that term around, that actually diminishes the severity of what impeachment is reserved for.”