Democrats are being called out for their hypocritical silence in the wake of protests in Iran expressing anger at the regime.
Democratic presidential candidates and lawmakers who had been openly condemning President Donald Trump’s handling of rising tensions with Iran in the last days suddenly seemed to go into hiding as the Middle East country’s citizens poured out in the streets to condemn their government leaders.
(Video: CBS)
Besides former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., 2020 Democratic hopefuls seem to have nothing to say now that Iranians have turned to blaming their own government.
Biden didn’t miss a chance to slam Trump’s “reckless policies” but did note the protesters in Iran should be supported.
Trump’s reckless policies have needlessly endangered our interests in the Middle East. But none of us should be under any illusions about the Iranian regime, and the Iranian people — like all people everywhere — have the right to peaceful protest. The world should support them.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 12, 2020
Klobuchar had less to say but still called for supporting the people’s right to protest.
People should have the right to peacefully protest in any country, including Iran.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 13, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, vocally condemning Trump’s actions against Iran and his targeting of the terrorist mastermind, could offer no other comments about the Iranian protests than to say there are “different reasons” for them during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“Of course we would love to see the aspirations of the people of Iran realized with a better situation there,” she did add after some more questioning on the issue.
Liberal journalist Yashar Ali drew attention to the left’s silence as protests erupted in Iran and as photos and videos began to emerge showing Iranian security forces trying to disperse the demonstrators who were angrily denouncing the regime for shooting down a passenger plane last week killing everyone on board.
“I’ve gone through some of the most active and prominent liberal Twitter accounts and none of them mentioned the Iran protests today,” Ali, who is of Iranian heritage, tweeted Sunday. “These same people were actively tweeting about wanting to avoid war and attacking Trump for his decision.”
9. I’ve gone through some of the most active and prominent liberal Twitter accounts and none of them mentioned the Iran protests today. These same people were actively tweeting about wanting to avoid war and attacking Trump for his decision.
What happened?
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 12, 2020
Ali, who has family and friends living in Iran, leveled a scathing indictment of the Iranian government and Democrats in a series of tweets, noting how the Iranian people have turned their wrath on their government for not only engaging in the actions that led to Trump’s ordering of an airstrike that killed of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, but of lying about being responsible for the downed airliner.
2. Iranians who are protesting and all the family/friends I spoke to (who live in different parts of Iran) are furious that they were lied to for three days about the cause of the plane crash. The Iranian government lied left and right about where the plane was headed
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 12, 2020
But Ali pointed out the hypocritical silence in the U.S. from the left who had been slamming Trump over the events, with some even blaming the president and his administration for the shooting down of the plane.
“In this context, Iranians are being used by certain people on the left (i didn’t say all) as a tool to attack President Trump. But these same people don’t seem to care to … support their right to protest?” Ali said.
He noted how the protests were “inconvenient” now as they did not fit the narrative from the liberal media and Democrats claiming the Iranian people were angry at Trump.
11. It seems to me the protests were inconvenient for some of these folks today. They were placing the blame on the Iranian leadership who lied repeatedly about what happened. They weren’t blaming President Trump…so it wasn’t worth it to bring attention to or support them?
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 12, 2020
Democratic leaders, and House lawmaker who passed a war powers resolution to limit the president’s military actions against Iran, went strangely quiet as facts emerged about the Ukraine International Airlines flight and the people demanded accountability from the Iranian regime.
So far Biden is the only major Dem candidate to tweet out a statement supporting protests against the Iranian regime. Nothing in the twitter feeds of Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, despite all of them previously championing democracy promotion/antiauthoritarianism abroad. https://t.co/HDh4T6rDPS
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 12, 2020
House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. have so far made no statements in support of protesters.
Freshman congresswomen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. – also known as “the Squad” have been quiet as well.
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