Van Hollen: Trump ‘genocide’ post shows Republican Party is ‘bankrupt’

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Wednesday went after the Republican response to President Trump’s recent post threatening Iran in which he stated that “a whole civilization will die.”

“It says something about just how bankrupt the Republican Party has become under Donald Trump, that none of them said a peep. And so, the reality is, the only thing, and the only thing they care about, is not the fact that the president of the United States threatened massive war crimes and genocide, the only thing they care about is their own elections,” Van Hollen told MS NOW’s Ali Velshi on “All In.”

“And, that means that if they’re looking at public sentiment, and they’re hearing that they’re going to get crushed in the midterm elections and there are lots of signs pointing in that direction. But they have to understand and be more afraid of their constituents than they are of Donald Trump,” he added.

In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump said that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran did not meet a deadline for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

A swath of Democrats on Tuesday pushed to remove Trump from office over his threats against Iran before his 8 p.m. EDT deadline. The president later announced a two-week ceasefire, which has since become tenuous.

“Donald Trump is openly threatening war crimes against the entirety of Iranian civilization. 25th Amendment proceedings must begin immediately, but if the Cabinet is too cowardly, the House should begin the impeachment process now,” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) posted on the social platform X, referencing Trump’s “civilization” post.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) pressed the House to start impeachment proceedings because of the post, labeling it “completely unstable and perilous.”

When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an email to The Hill that, “as someone who enjoys sipping margaritas with terrorists, Chris Van Hollen has zero credibility on this topic or anything else.”

Kelly is referring to an incident last year when Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the two men were photographed with what appeared to be margaritas in front of them. The Maryland senator later said that Salvadoran government officials placed glasses down on their table to make it look like they had been drinking.

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