On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA) responded to a question on how to end the Iran war by saying that “I wish I had the answer to that. The reality is, we have to end this war. And when my party, the House Democrats, take control of the House and have the gavels and restore our Article I powers of the purse and can actually bring some accountability and look to bring this war to an end, that will certainly be helpful.”
Host Elex Michaelson asked, “Based off of where we are right now, what’s the best option on the table for the U.S. in Iran?”
Mullin responded, “Well, let’s face it, there aren’t very good options at the moment. We’re $37 billion into this. I’m old enough to remember when this war was only going to be a few weeks. It was called an excursion by this president. This is a war in search of a rationale. And I’m concerned that, at the end of the day, we’re going to lose treasure, we’re losing lives, and we’re not going to be any closer to real peace in the Middle East. And the president knows this is costing him domestically, right? 6 in 10 Americans are opposed to this war. His domestic politics are eroding, even as we speak. Gas prices continue to go up. People are being hit in the wallet. So, I don’t know that this president has any kind of an endgame that is discernible. And it is deeply unpopular and problematic. And you saw that in the House, just the other week, when we passed yet another war powers resolution, peeling off a little bit of Republican support. So, that’s indicative of the level of popularity, not only of this war, but the president himself.”
Michaelson followed up, “But what do we do? Obviously, the war is unpopular. Obviously, you think it was a mistake to go in, but we’re there. So, what do we do now? How do we get out of this?”
Mullin responded, “Well, I wish I had the answer to that. The reality is, we have to end this war. And when my party, the House Democrats, take control of the House and have the gavels and restore our Article I powers of the purse and can actually bring some accountability and look to bring this war to an end, that will certainly be helpful. But I’m concerned that we may wind up with nothing better than the Obama JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, which, at least we had that in place, and there were some parameters there and international inspectors and so forth. This president may wind up with something much weaker as a measure just to proclaim victory and walk away.”
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