Democratic Senator Bravely Calls for War With Iran on Fox News

Last May, Politico ran a feature on Delaware Sen. Chris Coons calling him “the GOP’s favorite Democrat.” It’s not hard to see why, considering his affinity for helping Republicans pass bad legislation, confirm Donald Trump’s bad nominees, and slamming the left whenever there’s a microphone in his face.

On Monday, Coons gave yet another shining example of why the Republicans love him so much by publicly backing possible military action against Iran, following an apparent strike this weekend on a Saudi oil processing facility. (Iran has denied being behind the attack.) He decided to make this proclamation in an interview on Fox & Friends this morning.

“Iran is one of the most dangerous state sponsors of terrorism,” Coons, who has endorsed Joe Biden for president, said. “This may well be the thing that calls for military action against Iran if that’s what the intelligence supports.”

Playing the devil’s advocate, Brian Kilmeade (of all people) asked Coons what he would say to people who (rightfully) think that this isn’t our problem to deal with. “I’d say one of the things that has kept America safe and secure for seven decades is a global network of alliances,” Coons said (less than a week after the anniversary of 9/11, I might add). “Obviously, our alliance with the Saudis has been badly strained by the murder of [Jamal] Khashoggi and some of the other things that MBS, the crown prince, has done.”

“But this is a moment where Iran is really pushing our resolve and really testing whether we’re going to stand up,” Coons added. Wonderful.

Chris Coons is from a state that has exactly zero Republican officials elected statewide, and hasn’t voted for a Republican to occupy one of its Senate seats since 1994. Coons isn’t endorsing Trump’s fervent push for military action because he’s forced to, but rather because he wants to.

Another reminder: Coons is up for re-election next year. So, it’ll be interesting to see if Coons giving a tacit endorsement to another wonderful adventure in the Middle East—on top of everything else—spurs another Senate primary challenge in Delaware.