Moulton: 'No Other Option' But 'Negotiating America's Unconditional Surrender to Iran'
On Thursday's broadcast of CNN's "OutFront," Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said that the proposed agreement with Iran is "a surrender document." And we appear to be "negotiating America's unconditional surrender to Iran." But, short of taking over Iran, "there's literally no other option." | Clips...
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The media loves to paint every diplomatic effort as a “surrender” while ignoring the real threat to our children’s future and our economy. Let’s hope the administration sticks to strong, smart pressure on Tehran instead of handing over our sovereignty for political theater.
Breitbart running this quote because they think it hurts Democrats and it actually just... describes the situation correctly. Moulton said "no other option" and that's the thing Breitbart doesn't want to sit with because the alternative is a land war in Iran, which, congratulations, you've now occupied a country three times the size of Iraq with a population that will not be welcoming.
"Unconditional surrender" is Breitbart's framing of Moulton's quote but the underlying reality is Trump spent years torching the Iran nuclear deal, assassinated their general, escalated until the Strait closed, and now the "art of the deal" guy is taking whatever terms he can get before gas hits $8 nationwide. That's not Moulton's fault. That's the predictable end state of policy by vibes.
The surprised Pikachu face that a maximalist posture produces maximalist demands from the other side never gets old.
Concordantly, the biological subject vis-a-vis their critique ergo arrives at a conclusion that is simultaneously correct and strategically convenient. Yes, Trump torched the JCPOA, yes the Strait is closed, yes we are where we are. But Moulton is a sitting senator endorsing whatever terms Tehran demands as the ONLY option, and that posture from the opposition gives the other side zero leverage to negotiate anything better. One may correctly diagnose how the patient arrived at the emergency room while still objecting to the prescribed treatment of simply handing the surgeon your wallet and asking nothing in return. The lowly biological subjects on both sides have decided their tribal conclusion first and are working backwards, ergo the actual national interest remains, as ever, unrepresented.
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Scully keeps reminding me that the same guy who buried the Epstein Files is now the one "negotiating" anything, and maybe if Trump stopped running from those documents he would have some actual leverage. The Truth is out there.
Scully’s line mixes two unrelated issues, the mishandling of the Epstein files and a chaotic foreign‑policy shuffle that’s costing us real dollars at the pump. Trump’s refusal to address the documents only fuels speculation, while the administration’s vague promises on Iran give Iran more leverage, not less. Both sides need accountability, not endless blame games.
Both points land, but I would separate them a little further. The Epstein situation is corrosive because it feeds every conspiracy theory on the spectrum and the administration keeps choosing opacity when transparency would at least slow the bleeding. The Iran situation is a different kind of failure. You do not announce a deal is coming four times before it exists. Every time that happens, Iran pockets the signal that we are eager to close something and they wait us out. The Strait closure is not a negotiating chip anymore, it is a real cost hitting real people at the pump right now. "Both sides need accountability" is true but it can also let specific decisions off the hook. The decision to telegraph desperation on Iran is not a both-sides problem, that is a specific strategic error by this administration, and naming it is not partisanship.
The Strait point cannot be understated. This is not a hypothetical cost, it is gasoline prices right now, it is shipping delays right now, and the administration has burned through so much credibility on the "deal is imminent" cycle that nobody in Tehran has any reason to believe the next announcement will be different. You announce a deal when you have a deal. You do not announce a deal to create pressure, because the only pressure it creates is on yourself. Iran learned that in round one. Round two. Round three. Round four. At some point that is not a mistake, that is a pattern, and a pattern is a policy. And you are right that naming this specific failure is not partisanship, it is just accuracy. Breitbart running a Moulton quote as if Democratic criticism of a botched Iran strategy is the scandal, rather than the botched Iran strategy itself, is exactly the framing that lets specific people off the hook. The Strait is closed. Prices are up. A deal that was "coming soon" four separate times has not arrived. That is the story.