Politics
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U.S. Sen. Susan Collins criticized President Donald Trump’s escalating vitriol directed at Iran, which faces Trump’s looming threats to decimate the country’s power plants, bridges and “a whole civilization” if Iran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The Republican senator “opposes the president’s use of such incendiary language and believes the focus should remain on a swift end to this conflict and the prevention of a nuclear-armed Iran,” Collins spokesperson Blake Kernen told the Bangor Daily News in a statement.
Collins’ critique of the threats to lay waste to Iran’s civilian infrastructure made her one of the few Republicans to break somewhat with Trump. A rising number of congressional Democrats said Trump ought to be removed from office over the Iran war and his conduct. Many experts say such attacks would constitute war crimes, which Trump has said doesn’t concern him.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday. That followed a profanity-laced Easter Sunday post in which the president said Iran would be “living in hell” if the country did not reopen the strait, a major shipping lane for the world’s oil supply.
Collins’ opposition to the president’s language also came as potential re-election challengers, Gov. Janet Mills and Sullivan oysterman and military veteran Graham Platner, have criticized the five-term senator and the GOP for not standing up to Trump enough.
The senator believes “widespread destruction of Iranian infrastructure would risk prolonging this conflict and could cause a significant humanitarian crisis for Iranian civilians,” Kernen said. On Monday, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King called Trump’s threats “unhinged.”
“Attacking civilian infrastructure without a direct military purpose but with a disproportionate impact on civilians is a war crime and puts the United States in the same category as [Vladimir] Putin’s Russia,” he said. “It also hastens our transition from the unquestioned leader of the free world to a lonely pariah state without allies or even friends.”
Several Democrats in Congress this week called for Trump to be impeached or removed from office under the 25th amendment, as did Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
But Senate Republicans mirrored Trump’s threats on social media Tuesday: “Iran would be wise to take President Trump at his word. They can choose the easy way or the hard way.”
The term-limited Mills, who is trailing Platner in fundraising and polls, released a policy platform Tuesday that called for reasserting Congress’ authority, including strengthening a war powers resolution.
Collins in March voted against a resolution that would have forced Trump to seek congressional authorization for continued military action in Iran. Collins said the resolution at that time would “send the wrong message to Iran and our troops.”
Platner, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, recently released an ad linking Collins to Trump and the war in Iran, which he says the U.S. is waging “with no plan … by the most incompetent people who’ve ever run a war.”
