{"id":21044,"date":"2026-04-07T19:46:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/congress-is-absent-as-trump-threatens-iranians-will-die\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T19:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:46:41","slug":"congress-is-absent-as-trump-threatens-iranians-will-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/congress-is-absent-as-trump-threatens-iranians-will-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress is absent as Trump threatens Iranians \u2018will die\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As President Donald Trump threatened death to the \u201cwhole civilization\u201d of Iran in a social media post early Tuesday<\/a>, Rep. Eli Crane was outraged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo sane person can think this is okay,\u201d the Arizona Republican wrote on X, an hour after Trump\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

But Crane wasn\u2019t talking about the possible eradication of an entire people by a U.S. president. He was talking about a report that women from Turkey flew to Long Island to give birth and sign up for Medicaid.<\/p>\n

Crane was among dozens of lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, who published business-as-usual social media updates throughout the day Tuesday. Without acknowledging Trump\u2019s stunning ultimatum, they shared partisan talking points, highlighted constituent meetings or celebrated local sports teams.<\/p>\n

Because neither chamber has convened for a full session since March 27, Trump has been free to further push the bounds of GOP loyalty without fear of concentrated pushback \u2014 or at least the risk of Republican lawmakers getting asked uncomfortable questions in the Capitol halls.<\/p>\n

While many have become practiced at deflecting queries about Trump\u2019s jaw-dropping utterances, most appeared to conclude that the wisest reaction to the presidential threat to eradicate 90 million Iranians was to ignore it altogether.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was just another Tuesday as Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) celebrated<\/a> the Artemis II mission and a home-state visit from NASA\u2019s administrator, Rep, Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) touted<\/a> a $5 million federal law enforcement grant, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) posted<\/a> about his day at the annual White House Easter egg roll, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) took note<\/a> of the frosty April weather back home.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson declined to comment \u2014 though the Louisiana Republican posted<\/a> about an Uber Eats driver whose \u201caccountant was shocked by how much more money he is keeping thanks to No Tax on Tips.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speaker has given no indication he plans to call members back early from recess, which is due to end April 14.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso also declined to comment, and spokespeople for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

While many Democrats kept posting as though it was just another Tuesday \u2014 Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz paid tribute<\/a> to “the amazing women of Red Hat Society of South Florida” and Rep. Frank Pallone posted in praise<\/a> of the Jersey Shore \u2014 top party leaders erupted in outrage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extremely sick person,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly posted<\/a>, while House Democratic leaders called in a joint statement for the House to return \u201cimmediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for House Republicans to put patriotic duty over party loyalty and join Democrats in stopping this madness,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n

In a separate joint statement with Schumer, the ranking members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees called Trump\u2019s threats a \u201cwar crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe speak today with one voice and one purpose: to condemn President Trump’s threat to extinguish an entire civilization,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

Some rank-and-file congressional Democrats went even further, with Rep. Lateefah Simon of California announcing articles of impeachment against Trump.<\/p>\n

Democratic Reps. Sarah McBride of Delaware and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan \u2014 as well as former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of Trump\u2019s staunchest allies \u2014 were among those calling for the president to be deemed unfit for office and temporarily removed from his post under the 25th Amendment.<\/p>\n

One House Republican aired misgivings about Trump\u2019s ultimatum Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not support the destruction of a \u2018whole civilization,\u2019\u201d Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThat is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America.\u201d<\/p>\n

But most Republicans are instead betting \u2014 or fervently hoping \u2014 that there will be some breakthrough before Trump\u2019s 8 p.m. deadline, offering an off-ramp short of military annihilation. The threat several Democrats called \u201cunhinged,\u201d these Republicans believe, is just another unorthodox bargaining method.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is him negotiating Trump style,\u201d Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a text. \u201cIt is reckless words. But, I do want to see the regime buckle and make a true peace. I want to see the Persian civilization flourish but it cannot under the Ayatollahs\u2019 yoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking Tuesday morning, Trump gave no indication he would be backing down. Fox News host Bret Baier, quoting a private conversation with Trump, said, \u201c8 p.m. is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get to that point,\u201d Trump told Baier. \u201cThere is going to be an attack like they have not seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one Republican said he is interpreting Trump literally.<\/p>\n

“Thank God we have a commander-in-chief that is not full of empty rhetoric because we’ve delayed this inevitability for 50 years,\u201d Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas said on Fox News Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

The No. 3 Senate Republican, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, mentioned Iran<\/a> in an X post celebrating the rescue of a downed Air Force officer but did not mention Trump\u2019s dire threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis weekend, the United States military once again showed the world what it is capable of,\u201d Cotton said. \u201cI commend our brave troops for completing this dangerous and heroic rescue mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a Senate GOP account run by Cotton\u2019s team responded more directly: \u201cIran would be wise to take President Trump at his word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can choose the easy way or the hard way,\u201d the account said.<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney, Cheyanne Daniels and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As President Donald Trump threatened death to the \u201cwhole civilization\u201d of Iran in a social media post early Tuesday, Rep. Eli Crane was outraged. \u201cNo sane person can think this is okay,\u201d the Arizona Republican wrote on X, an hour after Trump\u2019s message. But Crane wasn\u2019t talking about the possible eradication of an entire people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}