Updated: The Two Arguments That Trump & The Republicans Must Make On Iran

He who frames the argument, likely wins the argument

: 4.7.26 Update: Iran-linked hackers disrupt systems tied to critical US infrastructure as Trump’s deadline looms: officials

** 3.5.26 Update: “Iran-linked hackers have launched a cyber campaign targeting US companies, raising fears that critical infrastructure could soon come under attack.”

That type of warfare is referenced in my article below.

3.4.26 Article:

The United States attacked Iran with Israel.   They achieved an enormous tactical victory at the outset.  Now, Republicans need to win the rhetorical war at home.

As any good attorney will tell you, he who frames the argument, likely wins the argument.  To date, Republicans have not succeeded on framing the argument.

Here are the two arguments they must make.

No. 1.  Iran Has Been Engaging In A Fifth Generation War (5GW) Against the United States. 

Many critics of Trump’s actions are living in the past. Wars are no longer two armies standing across a field from one another. 

According to Brig Gen (ret) Blaine Holt is a former Deputy Representative to NATO, the “Battlespaces for 5GW include the grid, cyber, information and deception operations, assassinations, arsons, false flags, bioweapons, terrorism, and economic war.”

That is the war Iran was fighting against the United States under the now-deceased Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

Consider these three examples.

First, According to U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, “on March 24, 2016, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 7 Iranian individuals, who were employed by two Iran-based computer companies, involved with a 2013 cyber-attack against the Bowman Avenue Dam in New York and a 2011 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) campaign against the U.S. financial sector.” 

That matters because, as Fed Chair Powell highlighted in the Fall of 2024, cyber-attacks on the U.S. Bank system presents one of the greatest threats to United States.

Keep in mind that disabling an opponent’s economy as a part of making war is anything but new. Consider William The Conqueror, who conquered England (1066 – 1087), in part, by destroying the economic capacity of his potential English foes – thereby limiting their ability to ever fight back.

Imagine the danger to America if it banking system was disabled even for several hours. It would have a far greater impact against the United States than any missile strike.

Indeed, just as long-range missiles dramatically changed warfare, cyber-warfare is doing that again.

Iran, under Khamenei, not only imagined that, they took aggressive action toward it.

Second, according to Biden’s Director of National Intelligence,  Avril Haines, in 2024, “Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. They continue to adapt their cyber and influence activities, using social media platforms and issuing threats…We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”

Third, as for outright killing and maiming of Americans, “Iran paid Taliban fighters $1,000 for each U.S. soldier they killed in Afghanistan” 

Further, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Iran and its proxies have conducted more than 180 attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East between October 17, 2023, and November 19, 2024, resulting in more than 180 wounded and three killed U.S. service members.”

That is not to forget Iran’s threats to kill President Trump and other U.S. officials.

Those are just three examples of how Iran’s dictators have been in an ONGOING 5th generation war against the US for years.

Recognition of the nature of what Iran was doing is not merely a rhetorical point to be made.  It is a necessary understanding of reality.  

2.  Trump Has An Unfettered Right To Respond to Iran’s War.

The DC Democrats would have you believe that Trump had to come to them to request authority to attack Iran.  

That is false. 

Every President, dating back to our Founding has an unfettered right to respond to attacks from other countries. 

According to Alexander Hamilton, “[W]hen a foreign nation declares, or openly and avowedly makes war upon the United States, they are then by the very fact, already at war, and any declaration on the part of Congress is nugatory: it is at least unnecessary.”

On this issue, I trust Hamilton more than Chuck Schumer or AOC. You should too.

Once the attack on Iran was underway, President Trump stated “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted Death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.”

The President is right and, therefore, given the continuing nature of their attacks in this 5GW pursued by Iran, Trump had no obligation to seek a Congressional declaration of War.  

Nor can President Trump be constitutionally restricted when responding to Iran current kinetic attacks.

Of course, the President could always remind the Democrats that Obama and Hillary Clinton did not seek Congressional authorization for regime change in Libya.  Indeed, they fought that claim and deceived Congress along the way.

In the final analysis, President Trump took bold action against the ideologically driven Iranian dictators. In my view, history will look favorably on that action.

It will even look more favorably on the President and all Republicans if Trump makes the winning argument at home as to why he had the constitutional authority to likely change all of history.

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Thomas G Del Beccaro is a historian and Author of The Divided Era and The Lessons of the American Civilization.

Listen to my Podcast Politics in Perspective @ PoliticalVanguard.com

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