{"id":46972,"date":"2026-03-02T17:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46972"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:00:43","slug":"democratic-leaders-face-backlash-over-cowardly-responses-to-trump-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/democratic-leaders-face-backlash-over-cowardly-responses-to-trump-war-on-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Leaders Face Backlash Over \u2018Cowardly\u2019 Responses to Trump War on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Schumer<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a joint news conference on January 8, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we plunge headlong into another catastrophic war, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries\u2019 throat-clearing and process critique only serves Trump and the war machine.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 01, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top Democrats in the US Congress<\/a>, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a>, faced backlash on Saturday over what critics described as tepid, equivocal responses to President Donald Trump\u2019s illegal assault on Iran\u2014and for slowwalking efforts to prevent the war before the bombing began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While both Democratic leaders chided Trump for failing to seek congressional authorization and not adequately briefing lawmakers on the details of Saturday\u2019s attacks, neither offered a full-throated condemnation of a military assault that has killed hundreds so far, including dozens of children<\/a>, and hurled the Middle East into chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-DEMOCRATS\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Trump Marches US Toward Iran War, Critics Ask: Where\u2019s the \u2018Pushback\u2019 From Dems and Media?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Democratic<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Top Dems Reportedly Working to Sabotage Bill to Stop Trump War With Iran<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Schumer (D-NY)\u2014who infamously worked to defeat the 2015 nuclear deal<\/a> that Trump later abandoned during his first White House<\/a> term, setting the stage for the current crisis\u2014said he \u201cimplored\u201d US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> to \u201cbe straight with Congress and the American people about the objectives of these strikes and what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIran must never be allowed to attain a nuclear weapon,\u201d he added, \u201cbut the American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East when there are so many problems at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffries (D-NY), a beneficiary of AIPAC campaign cash<\/a>, said in his response to the massive US-Israeli assault that \u201cIran is a bad actor and must be aggressively confronted for its human rights<\/a> violations, nuclear ambitions, support of terrorism, and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump administration<\/a> must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately, provide an ironclad justification for this act of war, clearly define the national security objective, and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, prolonged military quagmire in the Middle East,\u201d said Jeffries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democratic leaders\u2019 responses bolstered the view that their objections to Trump\u2019s attack on Iran are\u00a0based on procedure<\/a>, not opposition to war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/krystalball\/status\/2027769484816081155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2027769484816081155%7Ctwgr%5Ea95aa3234b6479c34cc7ff1bcc0af6578fb71585%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fschumer-jeffries-iran-war<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Valdez, a New York state assemblymember who is running for Congress, said<\/a> that \u201cas we plunge headlong into another catastrophic war, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries\u2019 throat-clearing and process critique only serves Trump and the war machine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocrats should speak clearly and with one voice: no war,\u201d Valdez added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schumer and Jeffries both committed to swiftly forcing votes on War Powers resolutions in their respective chambers. But reporting<\/a> last week by A\u00edda Ch\u00e1vez of Capital & Empire<\/em> indicated that top Democrats worked behind the scenes to slow momentum behind the resolutions, helping ensure they did not come to a vote before Trump launched the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe preferred outcome of many AIPAC-aligned Senate Democrats, according to a senior foreign policy aide to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, is that Trump acts unilaterally, weakening Iran while absorbing the domestic backlash ahead of the midterms,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Schumer nor Jeffries backed legislation<\/a> last year aimed at forestalling US military<\/a> intervention in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top Democrats\u2019 responses to Saturday\u2019s US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which Trump said<\/a> would continue \u201cuninterrupted\u201d even after the killing of the nation\u2019s supreme leader, contrasted sharply with statements of rank-and-file congressional Democrats\u2014and even some members of leadership<\/a>\u2014who condemned the president for shredding the Constitution and driving the US into another deadly war that the American public opposes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-NY), who has been floated as a possible 2028 challenger<\/a> to Schumer, said Saturday that \u201cthe American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic,\u201d said Ocasio-Cortez. \u201cThis is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people. Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran. Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region, and this will be no different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Rashida Tlaib<\/a> (D-Mich.), a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was more blunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress must stop the bloodshed by immediately reconvening to exert its war powers and stop this deranged president,\u201d she said. \u201cBut let\u2019s be clear: Warmongering politicians from both parties support this illegal war, and it will take a mass anti-war movement to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a joint news conference on January 8, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Bill Clark\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images) \u201cAs we plunge headlong into another catastrophic war, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries\u2019 throat-clearing and process critique only serves… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46973,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46972\/revisions\/46973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}