At least one calls out Democrats’ hypocrisy and impeachment appeals

There was no shortage of opinions regarding President Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, and many of the academics who offered them to the media were generally wary.

Sacramento State University’s Sahar Razavi, a political science professor who studies the Iranian diaspora in the U.S., said the bombing strikes “are damaging to any potential peace and mark a dramatic escalation in the conflict.”

Razavi added Iran now is “within its legal rights” to retaliate against the United States.

University of California San Francisco Law Professor George Bisharat, who’s written numerous articles sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, claimed the bombing strikes were a “clear violation of international law” and “likely” a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“Article I of the Constitution grants congress the sole power to declare war,” Bisharat said, but conceded there is “past precedence of presidents using force without congressional authorization.”

Bisharat added the U.S. strike will further incentivize Iran to seek a nuclear weapon — because “countries that do have nuclear weapons, such as North Korea, don’t get attacked.”

UC Santa Cruz History and Media Studies Professor Nolan Higdon elaborated on the constitutional aspect, noting the legislative branch “has been moving toward recognizing greater executive authority over the past few decades.”

The specialist in “critical media literacy” who believes Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter makes “democracy less and less likely to work as it’s designed,” said if Congress moved to reassert its constitutional power regarding war making, it “could move this [Iran situation] onto a more peaceful direction.”

Robert Zaretsky of the University of Houston wondered in a Forward op-ed if President Trump has fallen into a “Thucydidean Trap,” noting the president tumbled into the “vortex” started by the initial Israel-Iran military scuffle, and then informed the American people in a brief address that was “burlesque in its inanity.”

“We are now inextricably entangled in a [Thucydidean] tragedy,” according to Zaretsky. “If he were alive today, Thucydides would have reminded Donald Trump to open his eyes before he committed our country to war. We now know that Trump could not resist the temptation, thus adding yet another act to this tragic moment in our lives.”

Zaretsky also alleged Trump took “his MAGA supporters by surprise” by ordering the strike, an action he previously “had adamantly opposed” (but did he?).

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Angelia Wilson (pictured), a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, claimed Trump felt he had to “shift” the headlines away from the fact “no one showed up” for his military parade and the “millions of Americans [who] protest[ed] against him over 2,000 cities.”

An “experienced political commentator” whose research “explores the intersections of social conservatism, Christianity, feminist political theory and policies regulating sexuality,” Wilson said Trump “weighed up” the demographic he needs to “keep happy” — the Christian Right — before ordering the strike.

Wilson also “suspects” Trump decided to back Israel in its actions against Iran because he’ll “benefit from it financially in the long-term, post-presidency.”

In a now-deleted tweet, Arabic and Islamic Studies Professor Jonathan Brown of Georgetown University wrote that he hoped Iran “does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops.”

Many took the comment as pertaining to a U.S. base, and in an explanatory follow-up tweet Brown appeared to give that credence:

“I deleted my previous tweet because a lot of people were interpreting it as a call for violence. That’s not what I intended. I have two immediate family members in the US military who’ve served abroad and wouldn’t want any harm to befall American soldiers… or anyone!”

Several years ago, Brown claimed one cannot discuss “slavery in Islam until you realize that there is no such thing as slavery”: “Slavery cannot just be treated as a moral evil in and of itself. I don’t think it’s morally evil to own somebody because we own lots of people all around us. And we’re owned by people.”

In a Sunday piece for Fox News, George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley chided those “outraged” by the Iran strike, along with Congressional Democrats calling (again) for another Trump impeachment.

Turley, who’s not a fan of Congress abrogating its Article I power of declaring war, noted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer complained of the strike that “no president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy” — yet he “was silent or supportive” of similar actions by Democratic presidents.

In addition, “calls for impeachment are absurd given the prior actions of presidents in using this very authority,” Turley said. “Once again, some Democrats appear intent on applying a different set of rules for impeaching Trump than any of his predecessors.”

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IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: A B-2 bomber drops a bunker-busting bomb; Anoncandanga/X. INTERIOR IMAGE: U. Manchester.

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