Running it back

Welcome to the Flashpoint.

Nothing like a war to snap Democrats back to their roots.

The US-Israeli war on Iran that President Donald Trump starter in February is dragging into its third month—a temporary ceasefire from early last week doesn’t appear to be holding—and is more an own goal by the day. Economic disaster seems right around the corner, and the alliances the US relied on for decades to shore up its global hegemony are crumbling.

You might think this is a great opportunity for Democrats to forthrightly reject the war, Trump, and the US conservative movement. For the second time in 20 years, an unpopular two-term Republican president is plunging the planet into economic turmoil while fighting an unpopular and illegal war of aggression in Southwest Asia. It should be a slam dunk.

Not so fast.

Democratic leadership has criticized the war effort—on the grounds that they weren’t consulted and Trump didn’t go through the proper process. The war itself? Well, they don’t have such a strong opinion on whether it’s good or bad, other than to say that they generally condemn Iran.

Other Democrats, including some presidential hopefuls, have taken different approaches to pushing back on the war that intentionally endorse right-wing political viewpoints rather than drawling lines of clear ideological demarcation.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who has made little secret that he’s positioning himself for 2028, attacked the White House for not bombing Iran into submission. Framing his objection as a complaint over failing to achieve the objectives of a war of choice, Murphy described Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz an example of “heartbreaking” incompetence.

Would he have preferred a more devastating attack, a ground invasion? There’s a reason no one has tried this tactic before against Iran and it’s not a “heartbreaking” outcome for a lesson to be learned here.

Chris Murphy 🟧@ChrisMurphyCT

It appears Trump just agreed to give Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz, a history-changing win for Iran. The level of incompetence is both stunning and heartbreaking. What on earth is happening?

11:39 PM · Apr 7, 2026 · 1.2M Views

3.07K Replies · 2.53K Reposts · 8.53K Likes

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat from California, told Fox News that Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon—Trump’s two most direct predecessors for corruption, senility, and authoritarianism—were examples of the country’s “toughest presidents” in a rambling ahistorical diatribe about threats to other nations.

Without getting into the specifics of the deranged threats Nixon and Reagan made to adversaries, holding these two scandal-ridden and disgraced figures up as something to aspire to. I get that Khanna is testing the waters for a run for president and is trying to go the appeal-to-salt-of-the-earth-Republicans but someone needs to talk some sense into him. The only people who care about these comparisons are people like me who get pissed off about it.

With negotiations on the war collapsing, and a decline in American global power on the horizon, this should be simple for Democrats. That some of them are stuck in an outdated mode of politics that calls to mind the timid response to Bush post-9/11 that sent the US careening toward Trump 15 years later—a political moment we should try to avoid a repeat of.

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