Lawrence: Trump's profane and perverse Iran social media post is why the 25th Amendment was written

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This is why the 25th Amendment was written. It was ratified in 1967 authorizing the Vice

President and the majority of the cabinet to remove the President from power. When and

if that President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office? The 25th Amendment

was written for the day when the Democratic leader of the United States Senate could credibly

say, quote, the President is ranting like an unhinged madman.

As he said yesterday, it was impossible to imagine back when they wrote the 25th Amendment

was impossible for them to imagine a day with the President of the United States ranting

like an unhinged madman until Donald Trump took the oath of office. The 25th Amendment

was written for the day when a former Republican member of Congress who voted for that Republican

President three times would declare to the world he has gone insane. The 25th Amendment

was written for yesterday at 803 AM. That's what Donald Trump delivered his Easter greeting

to the world that included a promise to commit war crimes on Tuesday night. The 25th Amendment

was written for this. Most of you have seen this profane and perverse social media post.

I am not going to read it as is customary for such exhibits introduced on TV news programs

because it is pure, more mongering, filthy madness. We can put it back up on the full screen

for anyone who hasn't read it to actually finish reading it right now. I will not use it

as an opportunity for audiences to get to hear another anchorman using the dirty word.

I will not read Donald Trump's poison allowed because it is beneath my dignity, and that's

not a phrase I use very often. We should all be deeply concerned about living in a country

where an anchorman's dignity, indeed the dignity of anyone anywhere in the country on any television

show, is much, much higher than the dignity of the depraved President of the United States.

But that is where we are tonight. Dear Trump supporters, this is what you've become. This is what you

think Easter is for. And I say Trump supporters to mean people who are still Trump supporters. If you

woke up yesterday, a Trump supporter, and then you saw what Donald Trump said, and you hated

every word of it, welcome to the Enlightenment. Welcome to facing the reality of who and what he is.

One consistent Trump voter who is no longer a Trump supporter, who broke with Donald Trump

over his cover-up of the Epstein files, former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

composed her thoughts about an hour and 40 minutes after Donald Trump's social media post.

And I submit this to Trump supporters who have not yet seen Donald Trump in the light,

but Marjorie Taylor Greene now sees him in. She was very close to him. She was his friend she thought.

And I'm sure there are many important issues of disagreement that I could explore with Marjorie Taylor Greene,

but no Republican issued a better, more focused, more thorough response to Donald Trump on Easter

morning than Marjorie Taylor Greene. She raised every issue that Republicans claim to care about,

especially Republicans, who claim to be Christian.

Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote, on Easter morning, this is what President Trump posted,

everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and

beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump's madness.

I know all of you and him and he has gone insane and all of you are complicit.

I'm not defending Iran, but let's be honest about all of this. The straight is closed because the

US and Israel started the unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they've been

telling for decades that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon. You know who has nuclear

weapons? Israel. They are more than capable of defending themselves without the US having to fight

their wars, kill innocent people and children and pay for it. Trump threatening to bomb power plants

and bridges hurts the Iranian people. The very people Trump claimed he was freeing. On Easter of

all days, we as Christians should be reminded that the Son of God died and rose from the grave so that

we can be forgiven once and for all of our sins. Jesus commanded us to love one another and

forgive one another. Even our enemies, our President is not a Christian and his words and actions

should not be supported by Christians. Christians in the administration should be pursuing peace,

urging the President to make peace, not escalating war that is hurting people. This is not what we

promised the American people when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024. I know I was there more than most.

This is not making America great again. This is evil. This is evil. He has gone insane.

Our President is not a Christian. There has never been the slightest evidence that Donald Trump

is in any real sense a Christian. There's nothing religious about him. He never goes to church.

He didn't go to church yesterday on Easter. There's never been the slightest evidence that Donald

Trump comprehends any of the teachings of Jesus. He certainly never heard the part about turn the other cheek.

Notice that Donald Trump's demented social media post for which any President should immediately

be removed from office. Donald Trump did not say, open the straight of her moves or I will open it.

Donald Trump said, open the straight or he will destroy every bridge and every power plant in Iran.

Donald Trump did not say, open the straight or I will because he cannot open the straight of her

moves. Even in Iran's militarily weakened state, the commander in chief of the most powerful

military in the world is admitting and has admitted repeatedly that he cannot open the straight

of her moves. Even after the most elaborate and expensive and difficult and successful and

brilliant rescue, mission ever undertaken by the military, the rescue of an Air Force colonel

deep in Iranian territory where the plane was shot down even after that amazing display of

American military ingenuity and courage, Donald Trump cannot figure out how to use that military

to open the straight of her moves. Donald Trump announced today at the White House that they used

155 aircraft and hundreds of military personnel in that rescue mission to save that one

colonel who ejected from the back seat of an F-15 that the Iranians shot down on Friday

when Donald Trump had said the Iranians couldn't possibly do that. Donald Trump said they had no

military air defenses in Iran and they humiliated Donald Trump by proving him wrong by shooting

down his planes, shooting down two of his planes. The pilot of that plane was rescued within hours

of the shoot down. They still unnamed, seriously injured colonel and to hide for 48 hours before

the rescue team could find him and save him without losing any other military personnel in that

very risky mission. They did lose two rescue planes worth $100 million each that they had to

leave behind in Iran and destroy as they were leaving. And today at the White House that brilliant

rescue was described by the Secretary of Defense and by General Dan Cain, the Chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, as a long-standing American military rule of never leaving anyone behind.

We leave no man behind. That is, of course, the old-school version of the idea back when only men

flew American military planes. General Dan Cain, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it

this way. We leave no one behind. The General knows, unlike Pete Higgseth, that that could have been a

woman they were trying to rescue and it might be a woman the next time. But this 21st century

notion that we leave no one behind ignores the 120,000 prisoners of war held by German and

Japanese forces in World War II for years who were left behind. And the idea of using 155 aircraft

and hundreds of military personnel on an immediate rescue mission for a single person of any

rank was inconceivable in World War II or in Vietnam where we left John McCain behind.

John McCain was shot down in the skies over North Vietnam. Not the time no one tried to rescue him.

In fact, he was injured in the crash of his plane in a lake in Hanoi and was helped out of the water

by the North Vietnamese people. His plane was there to attack. John McCain spent the next five years

in a prison camp in North Vietnam where he was repeatedly tortured and in Donald Trump's first full

month as a politician in a presidential candidate. He attacked Republican Senator John McCain.

And when reminded that John McCain was a war hero, Donald Trump said he's not a war hero.

He's not a war hero. He's a war hero. Five and a half years? He's a war hero because he was captured.

I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you.

I like people who weren't captured. That colonel heard him say that.

That colonel who spent 48 hours hoping not to be captured in Iran knew that the first thing

that Donald Trump ever said in his political life about American pilots shot down in combat was

he's not a war hero. I like people who weren't captured.

Trump supporters listened to Donald Trump say that about John McCain 11 years ago and then they

voted for him. And they gave us this. Marjorie Taylor Greene heard Donald Trump say that 11

years ago and then she voted for him. And now Marjorie Taylor Greene says he has gone insane.

As I mentioned to Rachel the first time we had a discussion with former Harvard Medical School

of Psychiatrist Dr. Lance Dodas about Donald Trump's mental health and how close he was to insane

was in the first month of his first presidency in 2017.

Lying in the way that he does it repeated dangerous lying makes him unfit and is a sign of

serious mental disturbance. And to the extent he doesn't know reality and I agree by the way

I don't think he does know reality clearly he doesn't have a clear grasp of it because he he

changes. He makes up reality to suit his internal needs. That was 11 years ago 11 years ago.

But tonight Marjorie Taylor Greene believes Donald Trump is insane.

She's seen enough. She has finally seen enough. The speaker of the Iranian parliament

who Donald Trump has claimed at various times to be negotiating with responded to Donald Trump's

social media posts saying make no mistake you won't gain anything through war crimes.

White House press corps failed once again in an opportunity to question Donald Trump in the

Secretary of Defense and the CIA director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who were

all at the White House press briefing stage at the same time almost ever reported who had a chance

wasted it. However, the New York Times reporter Zolan Kano Young's did ask about war crimes.

I hope I don't have to do it.

And when Dasha Burns at Politico asked Donald Trump if any civilian targets her off limits

like specifically schools she said schools Donald Trump said I don't want to tell you that

and so the president of the United States who falsely denied that an American Tomahawk missile

hit a school in the first day of his war killing 165 people now wants the world to believe

he just might deliberately destroy schools and kill every child in those schools. He might just do

that and this is why the 25th Amendment was written. The only responsible thing for James

David Vance to do yesterday when he saw Donald Trump's social media post at 803 AM was to call

an emergency meeting of the cabinet at the vice president's residence at 9 AM and as soon as

a majority of the cabinet arrived asked for a vote to remove the powers of the presidency from

Donald Trump but JD Vance did nothing. No member of the cabinet did anything, no member of the

cabinet resigned and Marjorie Taylor Green was so right to say to every member of the Trump

cabinet who she knows in her statement all of you are complicit she is so right they are the most

cowardly cabinet members in history they were chosen specifically for their cowardice and utter

debased fealty to Donald Trump Donald Trump made sure that every cabinet member he chose

was incapable through cowardice of ever voting to remove him under the 25th Amendment no matter

what he did or said even if he has gone insane they are the most cowardly cabinet in history

in disgraced service to the most cowardly president in history who today in another burst of madness

actually said this come brave we're a little brave

I'm brave that would make Donald Trump the first brave Trump in recorded history he certainly

was not brave enough to go to war when he was of military age during the Vietnam War

no Trump has ever gone to war Donald Trump's ancestors actually left Europe and came to the

United States to evade military service that's the Trump family tradition and no one in Donald

Trump's cabinet is brave none of them Donald Trump's director of the CIA who made a presentation in

the briefing room today actually spent more time praising Donald Trump in his remarks

than praising the intelligence service and the hundreds of military personnel who brilliantly

carried out that rescue Donald Trump's defense secretary spent more time praising Donald Trump

than praising the people who risked their lives saving their injured brother in arms the one person

who spoke into that microphone in the White House press briefing room today who did not praise Donald

Trump did not offer one word of praise for Donald Trump was the only man in uniform

well good afternoon everyone thank you mr. president thank you mr.

secretary I know before I start I know many of you want specific details in these briefings we

will share what we can that was it thank you mr. president for inviting him to speak and not

another word to or about Donald Trump general came praised every military member of the rescue force

while being very careful not to disclose exactly how many there were and his final words were

for the men were for the man who he thought of as the true hero of the rescue the colonel whose

code name was dude 44 bravo the courage demonstrated by both the pilot and the weapons system officer

while isolated and them invading the enemy cannot be overstated to every member of the joint force

our interagency partners the leadership and sent com and our leaders at the department and above

thank you I'm proud of each and every one of you and thankful to our deployed forces and their

families and lastly and most importantly to dude 44 welcome home job well done thank you

only one person in that room understood who really is the most important person in that

rescue story it was dude 44 and no amount of drooling praise from Donald Trump secretary of

defense or from his CIA director endlessly gushing about Donald Trump today can make Donald

Trump the most important person in that remarkably successful and heroic rescue mission

and so tonight the most successful mission in Donald Trump's war so far

is the rescue of an Air Force colonel whose f15 was shot down in Iran long after Donald Trump claimed

that he had completely obliterated Iran's air defense Donald Trump and his secretary of defense

insisted that Iran had no air defenses left days before that f15 which can fly at 1800 miles an

hour was shot down by the Iranians and Donald Trump has no plan to open the Strait of Hormuz

which was closed only because of Donald Trump's war and so the words words of Marjorie Taylor

Greene about Donald Trump and his cabinet stand tonight as the most honest Republican statement

about them he has gone insane and all of you are complicit

after this break we will be joined by navy veteran carsman crystaluzio that's next

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our next guest carsman crystaluzio graduate from the United States naval academy

and served as a surface warfare officer in the United States navy he deployed overseas

three times including wants to Iraq and helped patrol the Strait of Hormuz

he joined with other former military veterans in november to make this video

right now the threats to our constitution aren't just coming from abroad but from right here at

home our laws are clear you can refuse illegal orders you can refuse illegal orders you must

refuse illegal orders

all trumps justice department tried and failed to indict those democratic veterans for

simply stating the law joining us now is pennsylvania carcassman crystaluzio he's a member of

the house armed services committee carcassman thank you very much for joining us tonight as so

many issues i want to talk to you about uh let's go to war crimes first because that's what you

were talking about in that video anticipating possible situations that we're facing now

there's a lot of discussion tonight about if if Donald Trump does issue orders that constitute

war crimes in terms of his bombing attack and missile attack on Iran who at the command level

you would you would expect the chairman of the joint chiefs to say no you would expect

you'd protest at the command level but what about below the command level what about the rank you

served at and below yeah look folks who are in the most junior right whether junior officers

you're listed they're not the ones who are ever going to be charged with that kind of determination

decision when you've got a president and let's be clear the fact that the president is openly

contemplating war crimes i mean he's talking about destroying civilian infrastructure not

things that even have some military application the fact that he couldn't even say a school an

attack on schools would be out of bounds is just crazy and it's not just about some hypothetical

international law when a treaty is ratified by our senate it is american law under our constitution

and that has the force of our constitution so of course we expect i would expect there to be

some people saying to the president for crying out loud you cannot order the military to violate

the law and commit war crimes and kill civilians and try to intimidate a civilian population and

frankly staying the honor of our military i don't expect at the fall on privates and

lieutenant's i expect at the fall on the people around the president uh to stand up for the rule

law in this country so Donald Trump issued this threat uh yesterday morning saying open the

straight or i will bomb everything uh in your i'll i'll do all this civilian bombing infrastructure

bridges power plants he didn't say open the straight or i will with your experience in the

straight of her moose why isn't Donald Trump saying i will open the straight of her moose

well as anyone could tell you and i'm sure people around the president said it to him before he

launched this foolish war an unnecessary war the Iranians would shut down the straight if you go

attack them if they feel like they're up against the wall as they are now in this moment uh it's

something that anyone who's been around this region and i sailed through the straight of her

moose nearly 20 years ago the ability in that narrow navigable part of the straight to shut it

down the harass shipping to threaten to mine it uh to launch attacks against vessels it's substantial

when the ratings have that capacity even as diminished as they are now they're still showing

that willingness and you're seeing that shipping companies their jurors aren't willing to risk it

that tells you they assess this threat as real because it is real and remember this war started

the straight of her moose wasn't closed it's this president's foolish and reckless war

that led to the Iranians doing the most predictable thing possible which is to shut down the

straight because it's the little leverage they have and we're all paying for it we're paying for

the gas pumps of course i filled up today in western Pennsylvania north of four dollars a gallon

and we're paying for it with everything else that's affected by the diesel shipping costs

and so this war is really hidden folks at home in our pocket books and this president is

solely the blame for that happening so Donald Trump's objective in the war uh in the war he started

as of tonight is to open the straight that's his objective the straight that was closed because of

his war that couldn't have been his objective on the first day of the war because the straight

was open and learns you get to the exact point these guys are making it up as they go along uh the

fact that the president is painting some big big strategic win to get back to where the region was

before he started the war is outrageous and i've been in a bunch of briefings uh there's been

reporting even from members of congress on the republican side talking about those briefings

this administration doesn't know what the heck they're doing they are squandering the patriotism

and the tactical prowess of our fighting men and women who will do what they're ordered to do

they're the best fighting force in the world you don't waste that and you don't do it without a

strategic vision and once again this president to point to a goal now of reopen the straight that

he caused to be closed is just it tells me a lot about the strategic uh idiocy of this administration

so it took 155 aircraft hundreds of military personnel and possibly an additional 100 or more

CIA uh and who knows how many here in the United States to rescue uh this this one kernel

in a brilliant mission of rescue what would it take to open the straight it would uh

apparently it would take a lot more than that to open the straight of her moves

well and think about what you'd be asking americans to do you'd be asking american sailors principally

to go risk their lives to go put themselves in harm's way around a mining risk uh missile attack

risk and more to usher out oil exports from middle eastern despots to go to places like China

that oil doesn't really come to our country it goes to China and other places in Asia maybe a

little bit in europe you'd be asking americans to risk their lives to enrich middle eastern

despots so that China can buy their oil that's what you'd be asking folks to do i don't think

american people support that it's why this war is unpopular and increasingly unpopular and it's

not just the billions of dollars that they're going to ask us to spend at the expense of health

care and more at home it's the american lives we've already seen too many americans come home

and flagdrape caskets if you ask me Carson crystal is you thank you very much for starting off our

coverage tonight thanks Lawrence thank you and so the words of marjorie trailer green about

Donald trump and his cabinet stand tonight as the most honest republican statement about them

he has gone insane and all of you are complicit we'll be right back

home to the Rachel Maddo show morning joe the briefing with jen saki and more voices you know

and trust ms now is your source for news opinion and the world learn more at ms dot now

one asked about his own mental health at the white house today here's what Donald trump said

what is your response to critics who say that i don't care about correct what is your response

to critics who say that is your mental health that should perhaps be examined as this war continued

haven't heard that but if that's the case you're going to have to have more people like me because

our country was being ripped off on trade or mill everything for many years until i came along

of course he has heard that he's heard that about his mental health for 11 years on this program

ms now medical analyst dr vin gupta who says he has not examined obviously

Donald trump and is not attempting to officially diagnose him described what we all are witnessing

this way quote erratic can't finish sentences often confused illogical train of thought

word finding difficulties developing and worsening gradually over time the president is exhibiting

all the signs of dementia cars woman shelly pinguary main posted this the president spent

Easter on social media threatening to bomb another country's power plants and bridges openly

talking about committing war crimes like he's live posting a sporting event this man has the

nuclear codes the cabinet and congress must confront the obvious time for the 25th amendment

and then of course there's marjorie taylor greens assessment of her old friend donald trump

quote he has gone insane joining us now is congresswoman shelly pinguary of main she's a member of the

house appropriations committee and the agriculture committee christwin thank you very much for joining

us tonight so first of all what was your when did you discover what donald trump said yesterday

morning where were you what was your reaction reading that i think i was uh waking up getting ready

for my family to come visit for an Easter dinner reading the you know social media like everyone else

and just didn't well in a deep state of shock but also what's the surprise this is what this man

does every day uh he discusses he frightens us and he shows that he's not competent to be the

president um which is what so many people are saying every day including our former colleague marjorie

marjorie taylor green how many of your constituents even actually know about the 25th amendment

well they all seem to know about it now because people seem to be talking about and tweeting about

it i mean i hear more often about impeachment but i think this is a moment you know as you were

quoting mtg you know you're all complicit if you don't do something about this so

it's a way of saying as you know as you've talked about um you know that the cabinet is complicit

if they don't do something about this they're around him every day they're probably you know much

more about his um confused mental state than any of us in congress do you have my former you have

my colleague on chris uh who was talking about you know members of the military need to speak up

certainly congress has to speak up and fight back um and the cabinet has to fight back congress

is attempted a couple of versions of impeachment were immediately you know tabled by the republicans

and it makes them complicit too if they don't speak up you know for a while people i think we're saying

hey this is how the president is it's locker room talk you know you'd hear republicans say um

i like his policies that are almost like the way he behaves but now i hear more and more people

saying to me how much of the world is he changing it in a way we can never get back they're worried

about climate change they're worried about his economic policies destroying the social safety net

our health care system you know our system of feeding people and now they're worried that he's gone

you know it started another war when he promised he wouldn't that he was going to be the president

who ended these endless wars and he's got the nuclear codes and he gives these unhinged arguments

every single day that changes strategy even if you're not a military expert you hear one day or

everything's going to be fine here another day you know he's going to bomb them all the smithereens

and it's deeply troubling you know americans whether you pay a lot of attention to politics or not

whether you're a republican or democrat they have a deep sense of what's um decent what's normal

what should be allowable in our culture and you know how a president should act and even though

we've been normalizing some of these things by the behavior continuing I just find more and more

people are they're frightened they're angry and they want to know when it's going to end

main carers who've been Shelley Pingri thank you very much for joining our coverage tonight

thank you coming up experts on military law say that Donald Trump's threats against Iran if carried out

would constitute war crimes that's next with retired navy judge advocate general Todd Huntley

last week Massachusetts congressman Seth Bolton who is a marine combat veteran said this

I know active duty marine to now refer to pete access department is the department of war

crimes that's because under pete access leadership they do things like this destroy civilian infrastructure

which is to be clear is a war crime and today don't Trump promised more war crimes tomorrow night

we have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be

decimated by 12 o'clock tomorrow night where every power plant in Iran will be out of business

burning exploding and never to be used again i mean complete demolition by 12 o'clock

and it'll happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to

joining us now is Todd Huntley director of the national security law program at Georgetown

university law center he is a retired navy judge advocate general who previously served as

the director of the navy's national security law division and I just want to ask you about the

plan that Donald Trump just described now that's a pathological liar speaking so it's entirely

possible that that plan doesn't exist but if the defense department does have that plan to actually

blow up every bridge in a country every bridge in Iran and the power plants would that plan be legal

no Lawrence it wouldn't be targeting decisions and targeting operations have to be conducted

on a case by case basis so there are cases or circumstances where power plants in bridges could be

lawful military targets if they are contributing to the military of the of the enemy and if attacking

them would give the United States a definite military advantage but that has to be done on a case

by case basis you can't just cart launch say that all power plants are now going to be targeted

that it in fact would be a war crime it would be an intentional targeting of civilian objects

and objects that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population so the phrase dual

use seems to be what's going to control this interpretation here political is reporting tonight

that war planners are revising the list according to two defense officials as American and Israeli

war plants search for new targets the dual use nature of the targets would make them legitimate

the officials said so dual use would be there's a significant or what what amount of military

use of a bridge shared with civilian use of a bridge would make that bridge a target again

that's a case by case determination it does not have to be a long term use it does not have to

be a hundred percent use but I'll give you an example say for instance there was a bridge that

Iranian military forces were going to use to bring their forces in to attack those US forces

that were rescuing the down to airmen that bridge would be a lawful target it may have been serving

a military purpose for you know 30 minutes or so and but at that moment it would give the United

States a military advantage and could be targeted so what would you be looking for and what would

you be suggesting if you were in the defense department now what would you be using as a defining

rule here so you would have to look at how the military is using each of those you know power

plants or bridges or whatever the other civilian infrastructure that's going to be targeted it

happens to be how is the military using it that but that is only the first step even if the

military is using it and it's going to give a military advantage by destroying it you also have

to look at the proportionality that is how many civilians are going to be killed or injured or

what is going to be the destruction of civilian objects and does the military advantage way the

expected harm to civilians so it's not just saying yes the military is using this power plant to

power communication systems that the military is using you have to go to that next step and see

how it's going to affect civilians Todd Huntley thank you very much for joining us again tonight

thank you

you

former Navy judge advocate general Todd Huntley gets tonight's last word