A growing number of prominent conservatives joined Democrats in condemning President Trump’s warning to Iran Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if the country does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The threat prompted former representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest supporters but now a vocal critic, to call for Mr. Trump’s removal from office under the provisions of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment.
“We cannot kill an entire civilization,” Ms. Greene wrote on social media. “This is evil and madness.”
Tucker Carlson, the influential conservative commentator, focused particularly on the president’s rhetoric on Easter Sunday, when he profanely threatened the country’s infrastructure and promised the Iranian people would be “living in Hell” if the strait were not reopened. On his most recent podcast, Mr. Carlson called on U.S. officials to disobey the president’s orders if he calls to attack civilians.
“Now it’s time to say no, absolutely not, and say it directly to the president, no,” Mr. Carlson said, echoing Democratic members of Congress whose similar remarks calling on members of the military to disobey illegal orders prompted Trump to demand investigations. Mr. Trump’s allies dubbed them the “seditious six.” The Justice Department tried and failed to indict the six members of Congress for their comments.
Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and often a strong supporter of the president, has escalated his warnings to Mr. Trump against making good on his recent threats toward Iran.
“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Johnson said on Monday during a podcast interview on “John Solomon Reports.” Later, Mr. Johnson told The Wall Street Journal that such an attack would be “a huge mistake” and that the president would lose support if he followed through on his threat to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”
Representative Nathaniel Moran, Republican of Texas, has supported the president’s decisions on military intervention in Iran, but drew the line at Mr. Trump’s recent comments.
“I do not support the destruction of a ‘whole civilization,’” Mr. Moran wrote on social media. “That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America.”
At least one former administration official was also openly critical of the president.
“Trump believes he is threatening Iran with destruction, but it is America that now stands in danger,” said Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “If he attempts to eradicate Iranian civilization, the United States will no longer be viewed as a stabilizing force in the world, but as an agent of chaos — effectively ending our status as the world’s greatest superpower.”
Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who helped Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, called Mr. Trump’s comments “unmoored” in an interview with NBC News.
“This reads like a president who feels increasingly invincible — and that should concern everyone,” Ms. Ellis said. She continued: “When you pair that tone with an apparent belief that executive authority is unconstrained, it raises serious concerns about decision-making in one of the most volatile geopolitical contexts in the world.”
Also joining the criticism of the president has been a chorus of far-right commentators and conspiracy theorists, including Alex Jones and Candace Owens, who echoed the call for Mr. Trump’s removal from office under the 25th Amendment.
“He is a genocidal lunatic,” Ms. Owens wrote on social media. “Our Congress and military need to intervene. We are beyond madness.”
Others warned that the president may be alienating the base of supporters that put him in the White House.
“Trump would not have won the primary in 2016 had he run on Mitt Romney’s platform, nor would he have won the 2024 election by running on new wars,” Mike Cernovich, the conservative commentator who has promoted conspiracy theories in the past, wrote on social media on Sunday. “It’s silly to claim Trump is MAGA. He rode a cultural wave, only he had the personal will to do so, but the issues matter, too.”
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
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