What Did He Say?

Susan Estrich
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:00:00 -0700
Opinion

It was Easter, for many a sacred day. The President of the United States had a message to send:

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."

I'm sorry for the language. What can I say? I'm quoting the president. It's a disgrace.
Updated: Thu Apr 09, 2026

It was Easter, for many a sacred day. The President of the United States had a message to send:

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."

I'm sorry for the language. What can I say? I'm quoting the president. It's a disgrace.

I'm writing this on Tuesday. What will happen today? "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," President Donald Trump has again threatened the Iranians. "We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World."

The president who has been so bitterly disappointed to have not won the Nobel Peace prize, is now promising to blow up power plants and bridges, destroying civilian infrastructure which critics point out could be a war crime.

As if the president who conducts diplomacy on social media using the "f" word cares about international law.

The president is going this one alone. He doesn't have Congress behind him, he doesn't even have his own Party united behind him. And how could they be in the absence of clearly articulated goals, a strategic mission, a plan, an end game — something more than the mad rants of a 79-year-old reality TV star.

Maybe this is all a calculated strategy. Maybe Iran will bend and topple because of their fear of what this man will do. I understand that game. My fear is, so do the Iranians. And what value do they put on the lives they — and we — have to lose?

My fear is simple, having watched the Iranians. What if they don't bend? What if they call his bluff? What does a bully with the most powerful armed forces in the world at his disposal do when it comes to that?

And when it comes to that, do you trust Donald Trump?

His latest Easter tirade set off the usual alarms about his fitness for office and the 25th Amendment. Sen. Chris Murphy (D, Conn.) posted, "If I were in Trump's Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He's already killed thousands. He's going to kill thousands more."

"The emperor has no clothes," Rep. Melanie Stansbury posted. "Time for the 25th Amendment. Congress and the Cabinet must act."

"The 25th Amendment exists for a reason. The President of the United States is a deranged lunatic, and a national security threat to our country and the rest of the world." That was Representative Yassamin Ansari.

The 25th Amendment is not going to save us. President Trump's Cabinet, more than most, was chosen under a standard of extreme loyalty. Using the F-word on a Christian holiday might earn a middle schooler some punishment, but it cost the President, at least in the eyes of his own Cabinet, nothing.

But I can't help but wonder what history will think of us. What will they make of our casual disregard of the mad rantings of our Commander-in-Chief? Will they point to rants like the one on Easter and ask how our collective judgment has failed us? And knowing that they will, how should that change the way we react now? Forget about the Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment. Where is Congress, with its war powers and its power over the budget? Where is the public, and the power of public opinion? If not now, when?