Ex-US Senator Exposes ‘Incompetent’ Trump’s ‘Biggest Problem’ In Iran War

Former Senator Claire McCaskill (Democrat, Missouri) on Wednesday flagged an “important” question President Donald Trump and his administration now face after launching a war against Iran: “What now?”

“I can tell you that the ‘what now’ is the biggest problem of all,” said McCaskill in an appearance on MS NOW’s Morning Joe.

“We have no idea whether someone even more extreme is going to take over Iran. And if they do, what now?”

McCaskill, who spent 12 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued that it’s also unclear if such an Iranian government would even have a “wisp of democracy involved” in it.

“And if it doesn’t, then what now?” she continued.

“We have no idea if the plans will be to immediately reconstitute whatever they need to do to get nuclear power. And then what now? So the lack of planning here, in terms of the day after, is stunning.”

McCaskill’s comments link to the administration taking a hands-off approach to any regime change in the country following the deadly strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The administration, which has offered shifting reasons behind the deadly attack, has also been notably vague in pinpointing the next figure it hopes to lead Iran in the future.

On Tuesday, the president told reporters that “someone from within” the Iranian regime could be the top choice to become leader after the conflict, but added that “most of the people we had in mind are dead.”

He also outlined a “worst case” scenario: that “somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person.”

“That would probably be the worst: You go through this, and then in five years you realize you put somebody in that was no better,” Trump said. “So we’d like to see somebody in there that’s going to bring it back for the people.”

McCaskill said the administration has churned out a “very muddled ‘why’ and ‘when’” for the war.

“I don’t care what the administration does now; they have been incompetent in one of the most important things a government must do when going to war, and that is having clear rationale for an attack, clear rationale for lives lost, clear rationale for why it happened when it happened,” she added.

“And they can’t fix this now,” she continued. “This is muddled beyond recognition.”