MAGA Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina blasted European allies yesterday due to their reluctance and rejection of the notion of getting militarily involved with Mr. Trump's war with Iran, particularly sending ships and other military necessities to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Graham also suggested in an X post that he had never seen Donald Trump as angry as he had after all of the European allies had rejected involvement. Here, specifically, is what he said:
"Just spoke to President Trump about our European allies’ unwillingness to provide assets to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning, which benefits Europe far more than America.
I have never heard him so angry in my life.
I share that anger given what’s at stake.
The arrogance of our allies to suggest that Iran with a nuclear weapon is of little concern and that military action to stop the ayatollah from acquiring a nuclear bomb is our problem not theirs is beyond offensive.
The European approach to containing the ayatollah’s nuclear ambitions have proven to be a miserable failure.
The repercussions of providing little assistance to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning are going to be wide and deep for Europe and America.
I consider myself very forward-leaning on supporting alliances, however at a time of real testing like this, it makes me second guess the value of these alliances.
I am certain I am not the only senator who feels this way."
You have the audacity to refer to "our allies" as arrogant? Meanwhile, you let the king of arrogance, Donald Trump, start this war alone, without allies and without even bothering to ask Congress for approval - making this war illegal - and all of that after not holding him accountable for another war in Venezuela, or trying to rein him in when he started ramping up talk about militarily taking over Greenland. This man who personifies arrogance, and you back him up every step of the way, without ever once calling him out on it since he came to power.
But you call out arrogance among our allies - who Donald Trump, in his actual arrogance, never stopped insulting - for hesitating to get involved in a war that they did not start or have any say in, and which Trump seemed to assure them had already been won, so they were not needed? All because you are too weak and cowardly to ever even so much as attempt to hold Trump accountable for his own actions, or force him to own up to his mistakes?
Let's make some things very clear. Trump started this war. He did it alone, and without doing some fundamental things that presidents have done in the past when pursuing a war. Trump launched this war without first bothering to build a case for it to the American people, or to our allies, European or otherwise. He did it without trying to build a coalition or going through the proper channels, either the United Nations on an international level, or making the case in order to obtain Congressional approval domestically. It sure appears that he overstated the urgency of the threat that Iran posed. After all, just months ago, Trump and his team not only declared, but insisted when challenged that they had "totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear weapons capability. Iran had been trying to obtain nuclear weapons for decades now, and again, just a few months ago, he had apparently completely destroyed their entire nuclear capabilities. Yet just a few months later, while facing compromising scandals at home and politically losing popularity and ground in an election year, he suddenly makes the urgent case for outright war with Iran.
After launching the war, the justifications seemed to fluctuate. It was about stopping their nuclear capabilities. It was about regime change, because those are very bad men. It was a pre-emptive attack, cutting Iran's capabilities of attacking the United States, an attack which they claimed to be sure was to come.
They also had conflicting reports of how the war was going, or even what it as. Both Trump and Hegseth outright referred to it as a "war" in the first few days. Then they seemed to back off from that, saying it was a war for Iran, but not for the United States (then what, exactly, is this for the United States?). Trump claimed that this was was won within the first hour. He said both before and after his recent request help from allies, much like he said that he did not actually need their help both before and after asking them for help.
With such inconsistency and a total lack of clarity, and with Trump seemingly acting hastily and without apparently having thought about any potential pitfalls before he jumped into the fire of war, why would anyone trust that Trump and company actually know what they are doing? Also, he continually and relentlessly takes every opportunity to insult allies - or rather, former allies, evidently. Then he acts shocked - Shocked! - that they would show less than wild enthusiasm to join up in his war games?
But of course, Graham does not address any of those questions regarding Trump. Just as pretty much always, he is too cowardly to ever question or criticize Trump. Graham, as always, is personally too cowardly to demand that Trump do what he, in fact, is legally obligated to do when pursing a war. Namely, to ask Congress for approval. But then, Graham always and forever is giving Trump a pass on all of his ridiculous behavior and bad ideas.
Of course, Trump himself had plenty to say. Unfortunately. And of course, it reflects his blatant immaturity and false sense of entitlement, as well as his lack of ability to admit to any mistakes or less than perfect actions on his end:
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.
He added that the U.S. no longer “‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID!”
Then why bother asking them for help, asshole? If you make such a point of continually insulting and undermining allies, why should you then get so upset and throw a tantrum when you don't get your way after asking them for assistance? And if you did need their assistance, why not try to build a case for war before launching into one? For that matter, if you did need their help - and it sure seems like he wants it now - why insult them to their faces just weeks before asking for help? Why bother continually making arguments that we don't need them and we're so strong, we can do it all on our own, and then get hot and bothered when they take you at your word and leave you to do it?
If Trump wanted NATO involved, then he has to find a way to drop his ego and let it be a NATO operation. Quite frankly, I am not even sure that Trump is capable of that, and I am not trying to be funny or clever when I say that. No, I literally do not believe that Trump would allow anyone other than Trump to be in charge of such an operation, which means that it cannot be done under NATO. Trump's own ego would not allow it. That said, this is in the Middle East, and is not a defensive war for NATO countries. So it likely could not be a NATO operation. In any case, Trump has done so much to fracture the suddenly fragile NATO alliance that they almost assuredly were not going to go along with this, one way or the other.
So maybe Trump should have done what he claimed to do to begin with, and forget NATO involvement. After all, it is clear that, as far as he is concerned, NATO is an afterthought. So be it. I am sure NATO countries don't want to join Trump and sink in the quicksand which Trump foolishly rushed into.
Why also repeat Mr. Bush's mistake of declaring victory very prematurely in this war in the Middle East? For that matter, why repeat Mr. Bush's mistake of launching a war in the Middle East, of all places, to begin with?
As for Mr. Graham, if he can be bothered to surgically remove his lips from Trump's ass long enough to possibly gain a different perspective. Then maybe, just maybe, he might stop his apparently relentless march to discredit himself and stain his name further for posterity.
What awful times for this country, and indeed, for the world, with such pathetic "leaders" in charge at the moment.
Below are the links to Graham's X page, as well as a related article. All quotes used above were taken from these two sources:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) X Post from earlier:
https://x.com/kyg_best/status/2033930724441518423
Graham tears into European allies over Strait of Hormuz reluctance by Ellen Mitchell - 03/17/26 12:58 PM ET
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5787883-lindsey-graham-trump-european-allies/
Lindsey Graham slams Europe over Strait of Hormuz reluctance
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