Yesterday, in addition to threatening to invade Mexico and hanging up on the prime minister of Australia, Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, suddenly decided to start trying to bully Iran with the vague threat that they are “on notice.” It’s almost Sean Hannity’s dream come true.
The Cato Institute explained why reasonable people should be alarmed at Flynn's behavior:
Flynn’s statement indicates an eagerness to stir up tensions with Iran over relatively innocuous issues. This will undoubtedly be perceived in Tehran as threatening, thereby bolstering the more hawkish voices in Iran and undermining the future viability of the Iran nuclear deal, despite the fact that, as the International Crisis Group recently reiterated, “It has delivered so far on its narrow objective: effectively and verifiably blocking all potential pathways for Iran to race toward nuclear weapons.”
But what's not to love if you're Sean Hannity? You may recall that he has been lusting for war against Iran since the Bush era. Not that he ever put on a uniform for his country.
Hannity discussed his happy thoughts about the war mongering with Sebastian Gorka, the former Breitbart editor/Fox News contributor who is now a Trump adviser (transcript via FoxNews.com, with my emphases):
HANNITY: How do you—how should Iran interpret that threat? Because to me, that’s a line in the sand. And there’s a new president in town that I would take more seriously than Obama’s red line as relates to Syria.
SEBASTIAN GORKA, DEPUTY ASST. TO THE PRESIDENT: Sean, I think the message is deadly clear to our enemies and our adversaries. We don’t have a national security team made out of 28-year-old grad school students who have degrees in fictional writing.
We have a very serious national security team. We have a national security adviser who was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency who almost single-handedly revolutionized the way we exploit intelligence in the battlefield. We have a set of principals such as General Kelly, General Mattis, who are now in civilian suits running the agencies that protect America.
And today, we sent a very clear message. We recognize that Iran isn’t just another country. It’s not Belgium. It’s not Trinidad and Tobago. It is a state sponsor of terrorism that is destabilizing the region. And for the liberals out there, they’re actually in flagrant contravention of the United Nations Security Council resolution on ballistic missiles.
HANNITY: See, if I were Iran, the mullahs of Iran, I would listen to Donald Trump, and we see how Donald Trump is. And we see his defense team, of which you are a big part of. And I would interpret that to mean that if they do this one more time, then I would expect the United States—probably partnering, interestingly enough, with countries like Israel, maybe even the Saudis, maybe the Egyptians, maybe even the Jordanians and others and taking out these nuclear sites once and for all.
Do you think they’re smart enough to understand that there’s a new sheriff in town?
GORKA: The trouble with Iran, Sean, is it’s a combination of two deadly things. Dictatorships are bad enough. But this isn’t just a dictatorship, this is a theocratic dictatorship. These are people who at the top level believe in the Occultation of the Hidden Imam and that the Apocalypse may be just around the corner, and they want to make it happen even faster.
So I can’t talk for the mullahs in Iran, and—but we wish to support those people who are under the heel of individuals such as these theocratic dictators.
HANNITY: You know...
GORKA: So we have to send a message, and I think the message was sent.
HANNITY: I think a line was drawn. It’s going to be very interesting to see the difference between a Trump administration and an Obama administration.
Watch these two blithely march the U.S. to a new war below, from the February 1, 2017 Hannity.
This old Long Island crow would do everything in his power to prevent Junior from going to war, and he knows it.
Hey world!!! Most of us voted for the nice lady in the stretch pants!!
I still see Trump as the accidental fraud in the White House. He never took a turn for the better like I was hoping. I now see him as a gutless fraud absolutely terrified by his own base, not us.
“Barring another 9-11, I don’t see the rest of America jumping on board Sean’s ship of fools.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, with all due respect, I’d be VERY careful about mentioning 9/11 if I was in your shoes David. I have a VERY BAD feeling in my gut right now that Der Fuehrer III and his new pal The Boy Who Cried ‘NUKE!’ (i.e. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu) are secretly plotting another staged “terrorist attack” on an major American city right now in order to FRIGHTEN US SENSELESS and to get us to support another one of their senseless wars for oil. Keep this in mind David: Der Fuehrer III and his entire cabinet are SADISTICALLY EVIL PEOPLE. I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past them.
Oh, just one more word. COWARD.
