President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign reveled in the administration’s airstrike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an email to supporters.
“Soleimani was a monster responsible for THOUSANDS of American deaths, and the world is a better place without him in it,” the campaign wrote on Sunday. “This served as a reminder of two important things. 1. America has the greatest military on Earth. 2. Terrorists have NO place in our world.”
Trump’s team went on to take aim at Democratic lawmakers who criticized the killing of Soleimani as putting the United States one step closer to war with Iran and as a use of military force that side-stepped congressional authorization.
“While radical Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, Ilhan Omar, and Bernie Sanders are busy criticizing me for eliminating a deadly terrorist, my administration is busy keeping our promise to support our military and put America FIRST,” the campaign said on the president’s behalf. “Being Commander in Chief is the highest calling of any American President, and I take that duty very seriously.”
The email concluded, “That is why I will ALWAYS put AMERICA FIRST and stand firmly behind the courageous men and women who risk their lives to defend our freedom.”
Trump turned heads around the world on Thursday by announcing Soleimani’s death via U.S. drone strike amid escalating tensions with Iran in recent weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed an “imminent threat” on the U.S. prompted the decision.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not briefed on the strike until afterward. On Saturday, the White House fulfilled its War Powers Act duties by sending formal notification of the move to Congress, but Pelosi quickly slammed the entirely classified document as raising “more questions than it answers.”
Trump has since threatened to hit 52 Iranian targets if the country seeks revenge and sent notice to Congress via tweet on Sunday that the U.S. may respond in a “disproportionate manner” if Iran retaliates by striking any American targets.
In October, the Trump administration also took out then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in a U.S. special operations forces raid in Syria.
