Democrats' near-universal condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal conveniently overlooks the fact that not enough Democrats supported it to achieve Senate ratification.
Trump announced Tuesday the United States would withdraw from the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump branded the deal "disastrous."
Obama loyalists knew all along the deal structured in 2015 as an agreement rather than a treaty could be swept away by the stroke of a pen. But without enough votes to win Senate ratification, they instead gambled the JCPOA would be very difficult to dismantle once it was in place.
Former President Barack Obama called Trump's move Tuesday to dismantle his signature foreign policy initiative "a serious mistake," saying it could eventually force the United States to make "a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called it "a sad day." Ranking Senate Intelligence Committee member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., predicted Trump's decision would drive "a wedge between us and our allies."
The Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called it a "mistake of historic proportions." And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., protested "there are no reports that Iran has violated the agreement."
Republicans won control of the Senate in November 2014, and were nearly universal in their criticism of the deal the former president struck in April 2015. Several Democrats opposed it as well. Under Article 2, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, treaties are ratified "providing two-thirds of the senators present concur."
"Iran will not change," Schumer said at the time. "And under this agreement it will be able to achieve its dual goals of eliminating sanctions while ultimately retaining its nuclear and non-nuclear power."
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., remarked "there is much more risk for America and reward for Iran than should be in this agreement."
Perhaps the sharpest Democratic criticism came from Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
"The deal doesn't end Iran's nuclear program," he declared. "It preserves it."
Several Democratic members of the House spoke out against the deal. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., for example, warned it "may in fact strengthen Iran's position as a destabilizing and destructive influence across the Middle East."
Reps. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., and Brad Sherman, D-Calif., also expressed skepticism and disappointment.
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