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Republican lawmakers in Congress are reacting to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post advocating for the genocide of Iranians in varying ways, including defending, spinning, and denying its contents, with some also giving full support to the President’s threats and others — including some in leadership positions — issuing no response at all.
Trump has set a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday for Iran to end its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels. If the country’s government does not agree to do so, the U.S. military will target civilian infrastructure, Trump has warned.
Trump reiterated that warning on Truth Social on Tuesday, adding disturbing language in support of genocide and other war crimes.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump wrote in his post.
The president claimed he doesn’t “want that to happen, but it probably will.”
Iran has reportedly “cut off direct communications with the U.S. over President Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s ‘whole civilization,'” Wall Street Journal reporter Alex Ward said on X.
Rep. Carlos Giménez (R–Florida) was interviewed on Fox Business Tuesday morning just after Trump issued the Truth Social post. The lawmaker indicated support for what Trump had written.
“Look, I think that we have to finish the job,” Giménez said.
The congressman, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Armed Services Committee, also claimed that Iran’s military actions (in response to the unprovoked U.S.-Israeli attacks on the country) somehow provided proof that the war itself was justified, stating it showcased how Iran would act if it had a nuclear weapon. Notably, Iran was nowhere near obtaining such a weapon before the war started.
“The president has to follow through with his threats. … I support what the president is doing,” Gimenez said, adding that “Iran is like a cancer.”
“Sometimes the cure to cancer hurts, but the cancer has to be eliminated. And that cancer is Iran,” Gimenez emphasized.
Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida), a staunch supporter of Trump’s, has also advocated for war crimes against the country. The night before Trump’s Tuesday morning post, Fine posted on X, “Happy Bridge and Power Plant eve,” referencing the civilian structures that could be targeted.
Iran should take President Trump at his word and make a deal, or they will soon face the full fire of America’s military. America is not playing games.
After Trump’s post, Fine continued to show his support for the idea. “Bombs away,” he wrote on a post sharing an image of what Trump had written.
Vice President J.D. Vance, speaking in Hungary on Tuesday, confirmed his support for Trump’s call to engage in genocidal attacks on Iran, albeit using softer terms during his speech.
“They’ve got to know we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them, if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct,” Vance said.
But in spaces that challenged the president’s line of thinking, Republican lawmakers struggled to defend Trump’s words. Appearing on CNN, Rep. Mike Lawler (R–New York) denied that Trump was talking about “ending a civilization” but was instead simply talking about “their energy infrastructure and their civilian infrastructure, including roads and bridges.”
Pressed on whether he takes Trump at his word that he will end “a whole civilization” (as that is what he wrote in his post), Lawler continued to defer. “He is talking about the energy and civilian infrastructure,” he claimed.
Behind the scenes, even before Trump’s post on Tuesday, Republicans have shown signs of fracturing when it comes to the war in Iran. Some, like Sen. John Curtis (R–Utah), have indicated their support for the war will only continue for so long.
“I support the president’s actions taken in defense of American lives and interests,” Curtis said in an op-ed last week. “However, I will not support ongoing military action beyond a 60-day window without congressional approval.”
Other right-wing voices that have lost favor with Trump decried his post, with some even advocating his removal from office.
“25TH AMENDMENT!!!” former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”
Notably absent from any commentary on Trump’s post was Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R–Louisiana). As of this publication, Johnson has not made a formal statement in reaction to the post.
Democrats reacted with indignation and disgust to Trump’s statement, though leadership stopped short of calling for his removal from office, focusing instead on urging Republicans to vote for ending the war.
“This is an extremely sick person,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–New York) said on X. “Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is.”
“Congress must immediately end this reckless war of choice in Iran before Donald Trump plunges us into World War III,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D–New York). “It’s time for every single Republican to put patriotic duty over party and stop the madness.”
Other Democratic lawmakers demanded that Trump be ousted from office.
“This is not ok. Invoke the 25th amendment. Impeach. Remove,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D–Minnesota).
“The 25th Amendment exists for a reason; his Cabinet should use it,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D–Arizona), the only Iranian American in Congress, said in a statement. “The fate of U.S. troops, the Iranian people, and the very foundation of our global system are at stake.”
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