MSNBC host Joe Scarborough defended Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran over the weekend, stating that Hillary Clinton and several past presidents would have taken the same action.
The Morning Joe host’s surprising take came as discourse swirled about Trump’s strikes on fortified uranium enrichment facilities in Iran.
Previously, the president promised to wait two weeks before making a decision.
On Monday, Scarborough, 62, argued he had no other choice.
‘I find it hard to believe that Bush 41, Bush 43, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton—go down the list—any president wouldn’t have felt compelled to take that strike,’ the former Florida Republican noted.
He also said Trump was left with ‘no good options’ when it came to a solution.
‘What would Monday look like if he hadn’t have moved?’ he asked panelist David Ignatius, who agreed that any president would have made the same call.
Both mentioned that Trump had ‘inherited’ the ‘battle plan’ from previous presidents. Ignatius stated that all three had considered ‘this scenario’ when ‘diplomacy wasn’t working.’
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough defended Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran on Monday, saying previous presidents would have done the same
The Morning Joe host’s surprising take came as discourse swirled about Trump’s strikes on fortified uranium enrichment facilities in Iran. Pictured: Rescuers and security personnel work at an impacted site in Israel Sunday following a missile strike from Iran
Scarborough – a frequent critic of the administration – went on to quote former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to hit home his point that Trump’s hands were tied.
‘Henry Kissinger famously said that when you’re sitting in the White House and trying to make a decision on foreign policy, the possibility of war, you’re never handed a good decision and a bad decision, you’re handed two very difficult choices,’ he said.
‘And the president made that choice.’
Trump, meanwhile, praised the operation Sunday as both ‘historic’ and a ‘spectacular military success’ after announcing it to the public in a Truth Social post.
Bunker buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles were used to bombard Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.
Pointing to proof that the president had exhausted all other avenues, Scarborough cited reports that Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had tried to arrange a meeting between US and Iranian officials in Istanbul before he gave his remarks on waiting two weeks.
The talks fell through when Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, couldn’t be reached to approve the meetings after he fled to an undisclosed location, sources told ABC News.
‘Yeah, the diplomatic route ran out for the White House,’ former BBC journalist Katty Kay agreed.
‘What would Monday look like if he hadn’t have moved?’ he asked panelist David Ignatius, who agreed.
The US attacked known nuclear facilities in Iran, including the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) in northeast of the city of Qom. The plant and its surroundings are seen before and after the strikes on June 22
‘The military route became the possibility that previous presidents have ignored.’
Others, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, have slammed the move as unconstitutional since it was made without congressional approval.
‘No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress,’ added Democratic Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, calling the bombings ‘an unambiguous impeachable offense.’
Iran has since promised to respond, after saying the strikes on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites constituted the US ‘enter[ing] the war clearly and directly.’
