Saturday's strikes on Iran, and the killing of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, will mark a defining moment in President Donald Trump's second term in office, and could result in Republicans taking the upcoming midterm elections, Dick Morris, an adviser to the president, said on Newsmax.
"This was probably going to be the most significant day of Trump’s second term," Morris told "The Count."
"Bear in mind that Barack Obama essentially got his popularity as president, stemming from his killing of [Osama] bin Laden, and that was always the crowning achievement of his presidency," Morris said.
"This victory, I think, could seal the midterm elections," he said.
The killing of Khamenei is at "least as important and probably more so" than the death of bin Laden, said Morris.
"The fact that Trump did this, that he pulled the trigger, that he cooperated with Israel in doing that is huge," he said.
Morris added that there should be "unanimous support" for the military operation, but the Democrats' criticism of the strikes is politically misguided ahead of the midterms.
"There should be unanimous support for what Trump did and to try to say that there could be a war powers objection is absurd," Morris said.
He also predicted the political impact would extend well beyond foreign policy.
"The Democrats have an instinct for suicide, of taking positions that are averse to what the American people want," Morris said.
"For example, their criticism of ICE, I think, falls into that category," he said.
"And this killing of Khamenei is absolutely the most important thing the United States has done in decades, both in terms of regional stability, ending the war on terror and getting rid of a horrible guy," Morris added.
Trump, said Morris, "deserves all kinds of credit" for the operation and warned that continued Democratic opposition could backfire politically.
"If the Democrats are foolish enough to oppose him or to criticize him, they'll just keep the issue alive," he said. "And it'll really help Trump in the long term."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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