Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) shredded President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on MS NOW's "Morning Joe" Wednesday, for rushing headlong into a war in Iran without any idea why they are doing it or what they are going to do now that it's happening.
"You said on Armed Services, these are issues you've thought a lot about," said anchor Jonathan Lemire. "Give us your take now about these mixed messages from the administration as to why this war even began. But more than that, it seems so very clear there's not a plan for the day after, including President Trump yesterday, in a moment, perhaps, of unexpected candor, said it sort of dawned on him like, oh, he was asked who could follow the Ayatollah as Supreme Leader? And he's like, oh, well, I guess the worst case would be someone who's just as bad. It's very clear there's no plan for the next day."
"Yeah, I mean, we have a very muddled why and when, and I don't care what the administration does now," said McCaskill. "They have been incompetent in one of the most important things a government must do when going to war, and that is having clear rationale for an attack, clear rationale for lives lost, clear rationale for why it happened when it happened. And they can't fix this now. This is muddled beyond recognition."
"But more importantly, there's the 'what now' question," McCaskill continued. "And in the 12 years I sat on the Armed Services Committee, I spent a lot of time on contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I can tell you that the 'what now' is the biggest problem of all. We have no idea whether someone even more extreme is going to take over Iran. And if they do, what now? We have no idea whether the government will have any even wisp of democracy involved. And if it doesn't, then what now? We have no idea if the plans will be to immediately reconstitute whatever they need to do to get nuclear power. And then what now? So the lack of planning here, in terms of the day after is stunning."
McCaskill concluded by taking a swipe at what she sees as Hegseth's infantile view of military force.
"I never thought I would hear the Secretary of Defense talk like my 12-year-old grandson saying that our enemy is quote-unquote, 'toast,'" said McCaskill. "The way he discussed this was not serious. It was not somber. It was almost gleeful. And frankly, I think that is startling to most Americans. I found it startling, the tone that he took in this press conference. I get it that he thinks this is all about killing people and showing lethality and supporting the warriors. And certainly we must support our warriors. But the tone of it was, in my mind, inappropriate for this moment in history."
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