On CNN this morning, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) had a bunch to say on the latest in the Iran “war of choice,” as well as Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponization” “slush fund.” Check it out (video and highlights), below.
- “Yeah, [Iran’s latest exchange with Israel] is over for now until it starts again. And one of the concerning things I’m seeing now is that the Houthis are involved and they’re threatening to shut down the Red Sea. So you you think about the effect that Straight of Hormuz has had on the world economy. Now you add the Red Sea in and it’s going to be an economic mess for not just for the region, for the American people and for the rest of the world, too. And so we need this war to end quickly. And I think it’s very telling that the House of Representatives and the Republican majority is is cracking now at this point. and their unity of support for the president’s war of choice.
- [Q: “How much control does the president have over the current situation?”] “Very little. In fact, some people would argue that Bibi has more control over Trump than vice versa sometimes. And you look at the issue, the underlying issue is that Israel has different motivations and different objectives in this war than the United States does. They they want regime change. They want to get rid of any threat to them, which is understandable, but that’s sometimes in contrast to what we want, which is to neuter Iran’s nuclear program and end this war presumably. But this president and his administration have been terrible when it comes to diplomacy. And that’s what happens when you send your son-in-law and a real estate executive to do your diplomacy. It’s ends up being a diplomatic nightmare. And now we’re getting to a point where it’s hurting our economy, hurting every single American, and raising costs on everyone around the world.”
- “It’s not just gas prices, it’s fertilizer, it’s food, it’s so many other things that Americans rely on. And now if you throw the Red Sea on top of that, that’s going to disrupt our economy in a massive way. And people were told that prices were going to go down under this administration. And all they’ve done is gone up. And so this was a war of choice. This was a diplomatic failure. And the president needs to fix his mistake and fix this mess…one way is to try to figure out a diplomatic solution, but that would have been great two or three months ago. In fact, that would have been great 10 years ago, when President Obama figured out a nuclear arrangement with Iran and then the president [Trump] backed out of it saying that it wasn’t enough. And now he’s thinking about doing the exact same thing if not worse. And so that’s the mess he’s in, is that he knows that he’s backed himself into a corner and there’s no way out. What he can do is come to Congress and consult with Congress and give Congress its actual war powers authority and then we can all work together on a diplomatic solution.”
- “[Trump’s] not pursuing [the anti-weaponization slush fund ] for now, but he clearly wants it. And Republicans in Congress are afraid of him. And so I would love to see an up or down vote on the anti-weaponization fund and to see how many Republicans in the House and Republicans in the Senate support the president’s anti-weaponization, $1.8 billion slush fund for people who committed crimes and but were loyal to him. The reality is they know it’s wrong, but the president wants it and so they will follow the president no matter what.”
- Also, check out the video from his appearance on MSNOW, in which Rep. Subramanyam talked about the Epstein files investigation, including upcoming depositions/interviews…including Lesley Groff (Epstein’s longtime executive assistant) tomorrow and Bill Gates on Wednesday.
- And check out this video, in which Rep. Subramanyam says: “The real question is does Graham Platner believe in the things that he’s said and done in the past? The answer seems to be no. He seems to have changed. And so then do the voters believe him that he has changed and that now he’s in a position where he wants to do good in the world. He wants to serve and and so the voters will have that chance on Tuesday and we’ll see what they say, Democratic primary voters and the Maine voters in November, because I do think he’ll be the nominee. I think he still has a shot of winning this race. And I think the reason is because a lot of people are sick of the the usual uh of what’s happening in Washington and they want change and they don’t care if the change comes from someone who has a checkered past. Look at the president himself. President Trump had a terrible past and he still got elected twice as president of the United States. And so that’s the that’s what we’re dealing with now and is people want change and Graham Platner certainly does offer that change.”
