Transcription
Donald Trump does not give a damn about leaving a comrade or so so many comrades behind. Every moment that Donald Trump leaves our heroes mired in the muck of this illegal war of choice in Iran, he is showing that he cares more about saving his own face than leading our troops. Only someone as inept and unfit, someone as callous and cruel as Trump would see this as winning. Only a draft dodging coward would think that this is the right way to engage in a war. Only a man so unqualified to be commander-in-chief would be proud to keep on risking our heroes lives without even a concept of a plan for how to get them back home without risking more graves at Arlington. So my question is if any of my Republican colleagues are actually brave enough to stand up and tell Donald J. Trump, the fivetime draft dodging coward. Enough.
>> That was Senator Tammy Duckworth, double amputee combat veteran, Iraq war survivor, who watched her fellow soldiers die in a war that never needed to happen. While American blood is still wet on foreign ground, the man in the White House is busy doing what he does best, protecting his own reflection. No strategy, no accountability, just another performance where other people's children pay the price and he collects the applause. He sits there like a king who never had to pick up a rifle, never had to dig a foxhole, never had to write a letter to a grieving mother. Yet, he issues orders as if war is just another episode of his personal reality show, one he can rewrite with a single tweet.
>> And we've won. Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won. But in the first hour it was over. Oh, wait. What?
>> The same man who spent a lifetime dodging every hard thing now demands the hardest sacrifice from everyone else. And the most disgusting part, he still expects you to call it strength. You can already feel it, can't you? That sick disconnect. The gap between the people who bleed and the man who only poses. Stay with me because what comes next will show you exactly how deep that disconnect goes.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. I've come to the floor today as a United States senator, of course, but also as a former soldier who served in uniform the last time a president rashly sent our men and women into an unjustified war in the Middle East. I spent nearly a year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering from the injuries I earned in Iraq. And every morning, as I struggled to sit up straight, every time I was rolled into yet another surgery, I made sure to read the poster I had next to my hospital bed. It was a framed copy of the solders's creed. The words that those lucky enough to wear the army uniform live by. That same framed copy now hangs by my desk here in DC. And as I glanced at it this morning, I realized that there's perhaps no greater proof that Donald Trump never dained to served a day in his life than the mockery he makes of the soldiers creeds commitments every single day he has been in office. The creed may be associated with the army, but the sentiments hold true for all of those who wear the uniform of this great nation. Its 13 lines tells us to be disciplined, physically, and mentally tough, trained, proficient, and to look out for those who look out for us, to look out for one another. Donald Trump is supposed to be our service members commander-in-chief. The very very least we should expect of him is to epitomize the standards that we ask our troops to swear by, to live by. The very very least we should expect of the commander-in-chief is to be as competent, disciplined, and professional as the men and women whose very lives hinge on his capacity to lead. On that competence and professionalism we expect to see in the White House. The creed makes clear that our troops will never quit, that they will never leave a fallen comrade behind. Yet, Cadet Bone Spurs is someone who will always quit. And every hour he orders our service members to remain in unnecessary growing danger, he is proving that Donald Trump does not give a damn about leaving a comrade or so, so many comrades behind. Every moment that Donald Trump leaves our heroes mired in the muck of this illegal war of choice in Iran, he is showing that he cares more about saving his own face than leading our troops. So I come to the floor today with a simple question. Our military men and women go out there every day and do their jobs, no matter the risk. All on Donald Trump's orders. So I ask you, Mr. President, why the hell can't you do your job, too? Why can't you live up to the same level of proficiency as our troops?
>> Cadet bone spurs. That nickname exists for a reason. During Vietnam, Donald Trump collected five draft deferments. The fifth one in 1968 was for bone spurs. So vague he later couldn't even remember which foot was supposed to be the problem. Meanwhile, the woman speaking on the Senate floor spent nearly a year at Walter Reed relearning how to sit upright after an RPG tore through her helicopter in Iraq. She left both legs in the sand. He left nothing. That contrast is the entire engine of this moment. A combat veteran who actually bled for the flag is forced to explain basic duty to the man who holds the nuclear codes. A man who has never lived a single day of real service. And while American troops are dying under his command, Trump pours political capital into an extravagant new White House ballroom already mocked as the Marie Antuinet ballroom, even as he demands over $200 billion more in emergency war funding on top of the $856 billion already approved for the Pentagon.
>> You know, we're building a tremendous military facility at the White House. It's a ballroom, but it's also a big military facility. A drone port on top and tremendous things underneath. No scars, no letters home, no skin in the game, just the endless performance of toughness from someone who spent a lifetime dodging the real thing and still expects the country to salute. Stay with me. What comes next exposes exactly how deep that disconnect runs.
>> But Trump either doesn't understand or he simply doesn't care about that. From the moment this conflict began, the president has tried to shroud his incompetence behind the valor of our service members. When asked to justify his illegal actions, Donald Trump's tried to hide his cowardice behind our hero's courage. He's tried to act as if questioning why we're at war is the same as questioning the skill and bravery of our troops themselves. It isn't. And I'm here to call on the president of the United States because I know that our military will always do the best job possible. When given a mission, our service members will say, "Yes, I will serve." They don't say, "Why me?" They don't ask, "Will I be safe?" No. They dust off their boots. They show up and they do what's asked of them to the best of their ability. Every single time, time after time, tour after tour, no matter the risk, no matter the sacrifice, they will always, always execute their orders to the maximum capability of their professionalism. and they are proud to do it. That isn't the problem. The problem here is that the person who's supposed to be leading them spends more time talking about his Marie Anttoinet ballroom than he does sitting in the situation room trying to get us out of this war. The problem is the guy who claims to be making America great again looks at the word America and only sees the letters M and E in the middle of it. The problem is that the commander-in-chief not only has no idea what the endstate is like for his war of choice, but appropriately doesn't even know what the term endstate means at all. The problem is that even in the last two weeks, the man who is in charge of our nation's nuclear codes has himself gone increasingly nuclear. He's not believing literal war with Iran is enough. He's now gone on to proverbial war with the Vatican, choosing to pick fights with the Pope of our people, the Pope. Rather than try to engage in any semblance of real diplomacy to end the conflict in the Middle East, he's threatened to annihilate an entire civilization, terrifying people overseas and here at home who are understandably worried about retaliatory strikes. And now after one half-ass day of so-called negotiations with Iran, he's whipssawed to the next risky frontier in the region. A dangerous complex partial military blockade of the Straight of Hormuz, launching it at our nation's expense with no justification, no explanation or any real plan of what comes next. His only plan seems to rely on the valor, the willingness to sacrifice, the professionalism of our military men and women. But let me tell you that is not enough. They need a true commander. But Trump is Trump and act and he is actively unabashedly telling us how to ignore what we are all seeing with our own eyes. He's trying to declare mission accomplished despite his obvious failures at every single turn. He's declaring, and I quote, "We did it. We're winning after all signs point to the opposite. We're still at war. Americans are still at risk. Civilians across the region are still dying for no reason that anyone can truly articulate. In reality, the only thing that Donald Trump has accomplished over the last six weeks is more chaos. Because of his choices, a new younger Ayatollah is in charge who seems even more radical than his father was. 13 American heroes have been killed with hundreds more wounded. More goats are parents are grieving their children. And more American families are struggling to afford the spiking gas prices. They're unsure if they can pay even more every time they go to the gas station, but they have to because they need to get to work. They've got to take their kids to school. They got to take their aging parents to the doctor. The farmers of Illinois, the farmers of this great nation have seen at the time that we should be planting their inputs costs skyrocket because of Donald Trump's war of choice. Look, war is always tragic, but when it's preventable, when it's unjustified, it's not just tragic, it's a travesty. Let's sit with that for a second. In the middle of an active shooting war, while American pilots are being shot out of the sky, Donald Trump found time to pick a public fight with the Pope. Not a quiet disagreement, a full proverbial war with the Vatican over diplomacy the Holy Sea was trying to broker. That is how detached this presidency has become.
>> Yeah, I'm fine with it. That statement brought them to the table with the exception of the one thing which I believe that they're going to give up on. I believe they're going to give up in that pretty soon to be honest because it's not going to work.
>> And there's a darker thread running underneath it. A national survey of 1,272 likely voters in early March 2026 found that 52% of Americans believe Trump's decision to attack Iran was at least partly motivated by a desire to distract from the Epstein files. This isn't fringe speculation. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, the same lawmaker who helped push the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said it out loud. Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won't make the Epstein Files go away. Meanwhile, a ceasefire memorandum was reached with Iran in June. An off-ramp existed. Trump walked away from it, declared the matter over, and resumed strikes over the Straight of Hormuz with no clear plan for what comes next.
>> This is with this skirmish we have with the Islamic Republic of Iran. And I call it that because let me tell you, they're getting hit so hard and they want to make a deal. But I say they're not ready to make a deal.
>> 13 Americans are already dead. Hundreds more wounded. A more radical leadership is consolidating power. Gas prices keep climbing. Farmers are watching their input costs explode in the middle of planting season. And the man responsible still calls it winning. This is what happens when a Lifetime showman treats war like content. he can rewrite in real time while other people's children pay the bill and he collects the applause. The woman who left her legs in Iraq is not finished. What she says next cuts even deeper. Trump wouldn't let himself be dragged in by the bone spurs to serve in Vietnam. So, how dare he how dare he drag our nation into a war of his choice today. But this draft dodger, this fivetime draft dodger is too infatuated with maximum pressure to make a serious effort at even minimum diplomacy. Once again, the Trump foreign policy doctrine has proven reckless, senseless, and dangerous. A doctrine in which fact and fiction are one and the same. One in which our commander-in-chief seems to come to military decisions by virtue of tempered tantrums and announces them via tweet in the middle of the night and one in which avarice outweighs advice every single time. Look, unlike Trump, I actually know what it's like to leave your blood soaking into the desert sand a half a world away. So, I know what it's like. I know what it's like and what is at stake for the troops this administration is sending into harm's way. We must safeguard their valor and their professionalism by doing our jobs. I can tell you this, it's a whole lot easier to cover your eyes and order other Americans to sacrifice their children and sacrifice themselves if you don't have to do any of the sacrificing yourself. It's easier to send other people's children to fight in a war if you know your own children are cozy in a penthouse suite somewhere. It's easier to ignore the everyday realities of war from inside the hallowed holder house of the White House where you've got McDonald's being door dashed to the Oval Office. But it's nearly impossible. It's nearly impossible if you've been actually outside the wire yourself. So, I've come to the floor today to keep true a promise I first made over two decades ago. I ran for Congress not because I wanted to be in Congress, not because I wanted to be a congressman or a senator. I ran for Congress to honor the men and women who carried me out of that bloody war zone. I made a promise that when the drums of war started beating again, I would be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully consider the true cause of war. Not just in terms of money, but in human lives and in the sacrifices of the men and women who wear the colors of this great nation.
>> [sighs]
>> That was the vow I made to the troops I deployed with and to all of those who've served since I've hung up my uniform.
>> She left her own blood in the desert sand. He left nothing but excuses. That is the difference that can never be spun away. One person knows what it costs to send young Americans into harm's way because she has lived it. The other issues the orders from a room where McDonald's arrives by Door Dash and his own children remain safely far from any danger. Let that image sit next to the other one. Flag draped coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base. It is easier to start wars when you have never had to finish them. Easier to demand sacrifice when you have spent a lifetime avoiding it. Easier to treat other people's sons and daughters as expendable when your own never have to board the plane. Duckworth kept the promise she made in a hospital bed at Walter Reed. Trump has never kept a single promise to the people he sends into harm's way. What she says next is the final blow and it goes straight to the Constitution. I'm here today under this great Capitol dome to keep that most sacred oath because right now thousands of our troops are ready to do their jobs even if it means laying down their lives. And it's tragic. It's disgusting to me that even as they prepare to do their jobs, our president and some members of this chamber seem so eager to neglect their own. So, as those drums of war echo louder than they have ever in years, I am here to remind Donald Trump that he does not have the authority to unilaterally force us into war. He may never have read the constitution, but I have. So, let me direct his attention to article one, which makes clear that only Congress only congress has the power to declare war. We are the ones tasked with deciding when and how Americans are sent into combat. We are the ones charged with that most solemn duty. Yet Trump is acting as if Article One simply doesn't exist. As if obeying the Constitution is an is optional. As if a founding document is just a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper that he can crumble up and toss into the garbage can at will. This should not must not be a partisan issue. No matter if you're starting struggling to pay rent or if your name is plastered in fake gold on a building on Fifth Avenue, no one can ignore the Constitution, especially if you've sworn an oath to defend it. No matter if you're a Mara Lago worker pulling down double shifts or the president of the United States, no one is above the law. Look, I believe fully that there are certain solemn urgent times when our military must be called upon to defend us. There are certain moments when the threat in question is significant and imminent. Instances when military force is the most effective tool at hand and that using it is necessary to protect America and her interests. The thing is from little in what little information the Trump administration has shared publicly that he hasn't immediately contradicted and sometimes the same sentence. This was not one of those times. But if the administration thinks that I'm wrong and there was imminent reasonable actual threat to America, then guess what? The floor is theirs. Come to the Senate with just 20 minutes from the White House. It's not hard to find. It's even faster in your motorcade, Mr. President. It's not hard to find us. We're the building with a big dome on top. We're only a 20-minute walk. Trump knows where the capital building is. It's a spot he told the insurrectionists to march towards on January 6th. So, if his team actually believes that war is unjustified, then they need to come to Congress and do their jobs, explain their case, giving the American people a say through their elected representatives. the members who sit at every one of this these desks in this chamber. They need to respect the American people enough to finally tell them why they're being forced to bear the cost of this conflict both in dollars and cents and dollar and daughters and sons. They need to respect our service members enough to prove why war in with Iran is worth more children growing up without their mom or dad. They need to make it clear that they've thought this through and well enough that they can actually articulate what an end state with this war of choice in Iran would even look like. Then when their case has been made, when the debate here in Congress is completed, then the members of this chamber must vote. It's our duty. Yes, it is our burden. It's the least we can do for those who are willing to sacrifice everything to safeguard this democracy. But if the Trump administration refuses to do that, if they refuse to adhere to the Constitution, well then it begs the question, what are you hiding? What are you hiding, Mr. President? We already know you're incompetent. What else are you hiding? Look, we've now been at this war of choice of Trump's choice for more a month and a half. Thousands are dead, grieving, wounded, suffering. Only someone as inept and unfit, someone as callous and cruel as Trump would see this as winning. Only a draft dodging coward would think that this is the right way to engage in a war. Only a man so unqualified to be commander-in-chief would be proud to keep on risking our heroes lives without even a concept of a plan for how to get them back home without risking more graves at Arlington. We can't let this chaos continue unchecked. As our troops continue to sacrifice whatever is asked of them, we senators we senators need to do the absolute minimum required of us. That's why this week I'm calling up my war powers resolution demanding that the Trump administration finally end this illegal war and to call for some actual public oversight and accountability on behalf of the American people. It'll come to the floor for a vote shortly. So to my Republican colleagues, you have a choice, a simple one really. You can vote with me to end this conflict and show that you actually care about putting America first like you claim. Or you can vote to put Trump's ego first, proving that when push comes to shove, you care more about protecting Trump's thin skin than the Constitution that you swore to defend. At this point, it's pretty clear Donald J. Trump will always be more interested in looking out for his own self-interest rather than truly serving American interests. So my question is if any of my Republican colleagues are actually brave enough to stand up and tell Donald J. Trump, the fivetime draft dodging coward, enough. Thank you. You have the floor.
>> There it is. The full destruction. A combat wounded senator just reminded the entire country that Donald Trump has no constitutional authority to drag America into this war of choice. Article one is not optional. The war powers resolution is not a suggestion and the blood of American troops is not a public relations prop. She has put the resolution on the floor. The vote is coming. Every Republican senator now faces a simple choice. Stand with the Constitution and the troops or stand with the five-time draft dodging coward who still cannot define an endstate and still treats American lives as disposable. Duckworth kept the promise she made in a hospital bed at Walter Reed. Trump has never kept a single promise to the people he sends into harm's way.