He hears the silence howling, catches tabbies as they fall …
The emerging consensus among many elected Democrats is some version of:
‘To be a clear, Iran’s outlaw regime is deeply evil, exports terrorism around the world, pursues genocidal nuclear weapons, is drenched in American blood, and slaughters its own civilians en masse. But…”
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 28, 2026
Ed: Sheer TDS. Not one of these Democrats raised a single syllable of protest when Barack Obama engaged in a weeks-long campaign against Libya to decapitate the Moammar Qaddafi regime in 2011, without ever reporting to Congress before, during, or after. And the Qaddafi regime had been cooperating with the US against al-Qaeda for several years at that time. Obama claimed he did it out of a “responsibility to protect” doctrine when Qaddafi attacked protesters, so … what’s the difference? Trump.
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Philip Klein at NRO: President Trump was not bluffing. He has been quite clear throughout his political career that Iran should not be able to obtain nuclear weapons and more recently he warned them against executing political protesters. He said he would be willing to negotiate, but that if Iran was not serious, he would order an overwhelming military attack. He did give diplomacy a chance, but ultimately, he was not willing to simply put a fresh coat of paint on Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal; he wanted serious indications that Iran was committing to giving up its quest for a nuclear weapon. When it was clear they were not, he followed through on his threat. Many past presidents have said that “all options are on the table” with regard to Iran. Trump meant it. …
In his statement, Trump focused on the malign actions of the Iranian regime over the past 47 years, its attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, its sponsorship of terrorism against Americans, and its destabilizing actions within the region. But he also criticized its brutal crackdown on political protesters.
Ed: This is what establishing American credibility requires. That’s ironically what Obama wanted to do in Libya too, with Hillary Clinton chortling a paraphrase of Julius Caesar afterward. Obama then tossed it away with his empty red-line threat against Assad two years later … a red line that Trump enforced not long into his first term.
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Donald Trump has just taken his place alongside Reagan & FDR as one of the most consequential presidents in American history. Many have occupied his office, but there are only a handful whose courageous leadership has quite literally reshaped the world. There will be statues of…
— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 (@marcthiessen) February 28, 2026
There will be statues of him from Caracas to Tehran. He is, as we speak, assuming his place in the pantheon of our nations greatest leaders.
Ed: Well, let’s hope. This has to turn out well first, and we’re just at Day One. If the regime falls and Iran can avoid becoming a failed state, Thiessen is correct. I suspect he will be considered a Churchillian figure for the US in the long run of history after this term, as long as these adventures continue to succeed.
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Mediaite: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X on Saturday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio notified the “Gang of Eight” U.S. lawmakers ahead of the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran. …
“President Trump monitored the situation overnight at Mar a Lago [sic] alongside members of his national security team,” Leavitt posted to X. “The President spoke with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu by phone,” Leavitt wrote, adding that Rubio notified a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the “Gang of Eight” before the attack.
“Prior to the attacks, Secretary Rubio called all members of the gang of eight to provide congressional notification, and he was able to reach and brief seven of the eight members.”
Ed: Chuck Schumer got pulled into a Gang of Eight briefing on Tuesday. That’s been publicly known since it happened – there are pictures of reporters asking Schumer about it – and everyone could deduce the topic of the briefing. Critics claiming that Trump didn’t brief Congress are at least inaccurate about that, although the real complaint is that Trump followed the Obama-Libya precedent that Democrats cheered, at least until the attack on our Benghazi consulate.
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How many more members of Congress will side w the murderous Mullahs instead of the Iranian people? https://t.co/lShrutnnlC
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) February 28, 2026
Ed: When Canada rushes to support America faster than Democrats …
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Eli Lake at The Free Press: President Donald Trump has finally done it. After promising to come to the aid of the Iranian people after nationwide demonstrations broke out at the end of December, the U.S. has launched a war to target not only Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, missile stocks, and navy, but the leadership of the regime itself. It’s the biggest gamble of Trump’s presidency thus far—for better or worse. …
In the closing of an eight-minute address to the world posted in the early hours of Saturday morning, Trump made a direct appeal to the Iranian people. “The hour of your freedom is at hand,” he said. “Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.”
On the surface this may sound like a return to the regime change wars of former president George W. Bush. But there is an important distinction. Trump has not sent nearly 300,000 ground forces to the region, as Bush did in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war. He has not worked with exiled Iranians to build up a transition government. There are no plans for nation-building after Operation Epic Fury concludes.
Ed: Aaaaand here’s where my Libya analogy gets very uncomfortable. Obama and Hillary bragged about not putting boots on the ground in Libya and claimed they’d provided a better model of regime change than Bush did in Iraq. Libya quickly deteriorated into a failed state run by warlords and terror networks; Iraq turned into a reasonably stable state, although it took several years to accomplish. Eli’s right that this is a massive gamble, but there’s one more hedge to the bet: it’s almost impossible to imagine an outcome worse than the Twelfther theocrats getting their hands on a nuclear weapon and/or completing their terror-proxy encirclement strategy in the region.
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Oh oh. If Qatar joins the US and Israel in attacking Iran, whose side is Tucker going to take? https://t.co/k9bfReFHGQ
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 28, 2026
Ed: It’s amazing how clarifying it is to see Iranian missiles coming at your tasty little emirate. Let’s see if that is as clarifying for the emirate’s mouthpieces.
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Newsmax: Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump over his decision to join Israel in launching major strikes on Iran aimed at dismantling its nuclear program and pushing for regime change, saying the move betrays supporters who backed his pledge to avoid new foreign wars.
In a lengthy message Saturday on X, the Georgia Republican rejected the administration’s justification for the strikes and accused Trump and Vice President JD Vance of abandoning core campaign promises.
“We said ‘No More Foreign Wars, No More Regime Change!’ We said it on rally stage after rally stage, speech after speech. Trump, Vance, basically the entire admin campaigned on it and promised to put America FIRST and Make America Great Again,” Greene wrote.
Ed: Just how much draw does MTG have with MAGA these days? There has been some skepticism among Trump’s base about military intervention here, but that ignores the obvious, which is that the mullahs have been at war with the US since 1979, and we have tried every other option to deal with it.
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Well, one American tradition still holds: When Bill Clinton has to give testimony, we bomb somebody.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 28, 2026
Ed: Dan owes me a new monitor.
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Jonathan Turley: In a 2018 report, the Trump Administration declared that the 2002 AUMF “contains no geographic limitation on where authorized force may be employed.”
Obama, Biden, and Trump have cited the 2002 AUMF as supporting past attacks in Syria. The Biden attacks included targets in Iraq and Yemen. Trump also cited the 2002 AUMF in taking out Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
President Biden’s reliance on the 2002 AUMF (and the 2001 AUMF) for “necessary and proportionate” attacks was ironic since he previously supported rescinding the 2002 AUMF.
The Administration is likely to continue to consult with Congress in light of these attacks. Congress can seek to bar or limit operations in the coming days. Given the fluid events, many members are likely to wait to watch the initial results and, frankly, the polling on the attacks. However, these operations could take days or even weeks. The longer the operation continues, the calls for congressional action will likely increase.
As an initial matter, however, Trump is using authority that prior presidents, including Democratic presidents, have cited in carrying out major attacks on other countries. History and prior precedent are on his side in carrying out these initial attacks.
Ed: The AUMF argument is interesting, but perhaps more applicable in precedent than in actual law. The better precedent is Libya and Congress’ tacit approval of this authority in explicitly applying the “responsibility to protect” doctrine created by Samantha Power, which is clearly applicable in Iran after the massacre of protesters in early January.
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This was just an undocumented attack, not illegal.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 28, 2026
Ed: Tweet of the day.
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My god pic.twitter.com/y8sokRZnlH
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) February 28, 2026
Ed: You knew that was coming.
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Mediaite: Anchoring special coverage Saturday alongside Mika Brzezinski, Scarborough dished on his conversation with the president right before the attack.
“I spoke late yesterday afternoon — I believe it was the first time I’ve spoken with the president since I reported about it on Venezuela — and I had been keeping up talking to people that were part of the negotiations for some time,” Scarborough said. “And what’s interesting is they left those negotiations feeling like some progress had been made. They said the tale would be [told] over the next 3 to 4 days.”
But Scarborough went on to note that Trump, on Friday afternoon, had hardened in his stance.
“I spoke to the president late yesterday afternoon and he seemed far more determined that Iran had been a menace to the United States for over four decades,” Scarborough said. “They had been, as we say here, the epicenter of terrorism. And they had to be taken out.”
Ed: Are Democrats now to the Left of M-SNOW as well as Carney and Albanese?
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Launching military strikes to effect regime change in Tehran is the most consequential decision of Donald Trump’s presidency.
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 28, 2026
Ed: Give Bolton credit for sticking to his principles, rather than calculating everything from whether it credits Trump.
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In his book, Gavin Newsom whines that his dad leased him a used car instead of buying him a new car when he turned 16.
According to a source, that car was a Porsche. pic.twitter.com/zGFOibpErh
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) February 28, 2026
Ed: Yeah, this is kind of off-topic, but it’s also can’t-miss from the Poor Getty Crony.
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