I can understand why a U.S. citizen wouldn’t know that the Constitution gives Congress, and not the president, authority to declare war. U.S. presidents have been pushing the envelope vis-à-vis military action for decades now.

But Brian Hook is U.S. special representative for Iran and senior policy advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — so in an ideal world (i.e., one that isn’t daily terrorized by a loose, fluorescent orange Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon hyperinflated with hydrogen, methane, and deep-seated shame) he would know what’s in the Constitution. Or at least the parts that have the most to do with his — uh, you know — job.

But apparently that’s too much to ask for in the Year of Our Trump 2019. (Second tweet):

Oh, and as for that first tweet — how the hell is the pressure campaign “working”? Because Iran is (allegedly) now attacking tankers and taking the world to the brink of war? 

You know what was working? The nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. You know how we know it was working? Trump’s own advisers told him it was.

Now, does Hook really not know that Congress reserves the power to declare war? Almost certainly not. But why be forthright about picayune matters like launching another Middle East war when you can so easily get away with being coy? After all, Middle East wars are like regular massages for Republicans. Just something they have to do to relieve stress.

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