April, 2026
Washington — In the name of our country, the United States of America, President Trump is threatening to commit war crimes against Iran if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz. The threat's language goes beyond his usual bellicosity into religious references associated with apocalyptic fanaticism, causing concern that the president has suffered a breakdown or his communication functions have been taken over by others.
It is unthinkable that a U.S. president would commit violations of the Geneva Conventions — war crimes, in other words — for any reason in the current situation.
It is time for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, with a few other elected Republicans, to call on the president in his office to assess what is going on, and to inform him that if he commits war crimes, Congress will impeach him, quickly. The precedent is the visit Republican congressional leaders Hugh Scott, John Rhodes, and Barry Goldwater paid President Nixon in 1974.
As a former U.S. Navy officer, I think I speak for the great majority of military personnel past and present in saying that war crimes at the hands of the United States cannot be allowed to happen, and that the Constitution empowers Congress to see that it doesn't.
