LUCAS WILLARD: WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes joins us now for a roundup of reactions from across the region. Josh, welcome to the show.
JOSH LANDES: Thanks for having me, Lucas.
Give us a sense of how elected officials in the WAMC listening area are responding to the conflict in the Middle East.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut held a press conference on the war this morning, condemning the attack on Iran by US forces in no uncertain terms:
“We are in the midst of a spreading, apparently prolonged war in the Middle East. It is spreading to the entire region with unknown costs and unspecified objectives, rejecting diplomacy while it was still possible. It is a war of choice with no imminent threat to either the homeland or to our regional allies, so far as I know from the intelligence that I've received and colleagues have confirmed. There was no imminent threat to the United States Security, either the homeland or our regional allies, to prompt this attack.”
I spoke with Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko of the Capital Region this afternoon, who told me the Trump administration was wrong to circumvent Congress when he launched the attack and has offered inconsistent, misleading arguments for why it was necessary in the days since:
“This all coming from a presidential candidate in Trump that said, if you elect me, you get an America First policy, you're getting America First, which means not investing, inserting ourselves in these outcomes of war. If you move with Biden or Harris, you're going to be in forever wars. We need to take care of things at home, America First. And what is he doing? He's doing the exact opposite.”
Tonko has joined calls for Congress to reconvene immediately to address the situation.
Josh, what are elected officials in Massachusetts saying about the burgeoning war?
Democratic Senator Ed Markey described the conflict as “a wrecking ball through the Middle East” that must be stopped, as well as illegal and unconstitutional:
“This is an attack which has not been approved by the United States Congress, and it holds danger for all Americans. It is imperative that the United States Senate and House return immediately to vote on a war powers resolution. Trump must make his case to the Congress, and every member of the Senate and the House must be put on record now as to whether or not they support this illegal war. And when I return to Washington, then the next day, it will be to press for a vote by Tuesday on the floor of the United States Senate on the illegality of this war.”
I spoke with Democrat Richard Neal, congressman from the 1st Massachusetts District, as well. Like Markey, he believes Trump has brazenly broken the law:
“The President continues to usurp congressional authority, but not only that, he has a compliant Republican majority in the House and the Senate who do exactly what it is that he asks and then subsequently demands. I don't think there's anybody that would argue that the ayatollah was a nice guy or a good guy. He was responsible for up to 30,000 civilian lives in Iran alone, but the President needed to bring that to Congress for debate, discussion, and enforcement.”
Neal told me he expects Congress to take up debate on the war later this week, on Wednesday or Thursday.
Now, even before the bombs even fell in Iran this weekend, you sat down with Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy to discuss Trump’s Iran policy. What did he tell you?
Murphy was on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday to decry the strikes in Iran as both a misstep and illegal, but when I interviewed him in Williamstown last week, he said the groundwork leading up to the attacks was suspect to begin with:
“We found out from the Trump administration last weekend is that Iran apparently is a week away from getting a nuclear weapon. What happens? They told us a year ago that they had obliterated the program. Well, either they were lying, which they probably were, or we have learned once again that military action cannot eliminate Iran's nuclear program, because you can't eliminate knowledge.”
Murphy has advocated for direct talks with Iran for years, and walked the walk when he secretly met then-Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference in 2020. He told me the exact move Trump made this weekend – eliminating Iran’s top leadership – could lead to the situation worsening.
You also spoke with the head of the Massachusetts Republican Party, MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale today - what did she have to say about the strikes in Iran?
Carnevale offered conditional support for Trump’s moves in Iran, stressing that she felt Republicans could back targeted bombing campaigns but not a protracted conflict.
I was interested to hear what she had to say about a president who campaigned as the peace ticket in the 2024 election that specifically would not wage war with Iran, a platform that going to war with Iran clearly stands in stark opposition to:
“There are elements, I would say, within the Republican Party, certainly, that would shy away from foreign involvement and have some concerns about involvement in the Middle East. That being said, I do think this administration has shown effectiveness at kind of surgical strikes, whether it be in Venezuela or that prior attack in Iran, in terms of limiting US involvement and maximizing the effectiveness for United States interest.”
The MassGOP head did agree with her Democratic colleagues about what has to happen next:
“I do think it's important now for the president to come to Congress and the American public and have a conversation about our ongoing involvement in the region, given the escalation continuing over the weekend.”
That’s WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes. Thanks Josh.
Thank you, Lucas.
