In a very entertaining incident from this past summer that shows the fracture lines that still exist in the Democratic Coalition, particularly as spats over the Schumer Shutdown intensify, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on a massive rant in which she called for President Trump to be impeached for his strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, and Sen. Fetterman responded in a very entertaining fashion. Doing so, he dismissed AOC’s whining and said that her flippant comments “diminish” impeachment’s gravity and that the president “isn’t going anywhere.”
For context, despite opposition from other Democrats, Fetterman praised he “limited military exercise,” he backed Trump’s action as necessary, noting Israel’s dominance over Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Other Democrats labeled the calls as “fringe.”
In any case, AOC began the fracas with an ill-reasoned post on X in which she suggested that Trump’s bombing of a facility had started a multi-generational war. She began, “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers…”
“He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” the squad member then whined. Of course, the president did not violate the War Powers Act, or even come close to doing so, and so her whole claim was entirely absurd.
Fighting back, Sen. Fetterman said that the congresswoman was being shortsighted. “Of course, no, she knows it. I know it. We all know it. That’s not going anywhere on. And you know, he’s been impeached twice, and now he’s still our president,” the Democratic Senator pointed out.
Building on his last point, the senator, viewed by many Republicans as one of the few sane Democrats in DC, said that overusing the impeachment term and process diminishes its seriousness, saying, “I think if you throw that term around, that actually diminishes what the severity of what impeachment is really reserved for.”
Watch Fetterman roast AOC here:
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This was far from Fettman’s only comments on Operation Midnight Hammer. “There’s going to be a lot of people in my party that are going to disagree with the strike in Iran, and I actually support that. I’ve been always calling for that… For me, that’s not a war. That was a very limited military exercise… it was like a very, very limited military engagement,” the Democrat said.
Adding to his last comment, he said, “Our party has often been wrong, and they were pushing for a ceasefire last year. And now Israel pushed through that and has broken Hamas and Hezbollah… Israel has air supremacy over [Iran] right now… Their capabilities are severely limited. And now that was an entirely appropriate to finally take out those nuclear facilities.”
However, other Democrats were less reasonable. For example, Rep. Ro Khanna said that Trump “struck Iran without any authorization of Congress. We need to immediately return to DC and vote on @RepThomasMassie and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”
Biased Michigan Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib said the strikes were a“blatant violation of our Constitution,” and responded to another activist by noting, “Yep, and it’s so f**king sick.” Likewise, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a breathless statement. “Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way,” he said.