Top Republicans cheer on Iran's protesters. But American ones? Not so much.

[marmar]

Top Republicans cheer on Iran’s protesters. But American ones? Not so much.
The only time Republicans seem to support protesters demonstrating against an authoritarian regime is when the protests are overseas.

Jan. 29, 2026, 4:22 PM EST
By Ja'han Jones


(MSNow) Several prominent Republicans who count themselves among the “America First” MAGA movement have been cheering on protesters in Iran who have opposed their country’s repressive regime. At the same time, those GOP officials have condemned and castigated American protesters who oppose President Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian administration.

Trump himself is the biggest culprit when it comes to this contradiction, having previously expressed support for protesters in Iran while he and his administration spread lies about and issued threats toward protesters in Minneapolis.

But that dissonance between expressions of support for Iranian protesters and expressions of contempt for American protesters exercising their First Amendment rights is fairly standard for some GOP lawmakers.

Take Ted Cruz, for example. The Texas senator recently attacked Alex Pretti, the man who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis last weekend, for carrying a gun at the time of his death. Video of the incident shows that Pretti, who was in legal possession of a firearm, didn’t brandish the gun, as the Trump administration claimed, before he was pinned to the ground and shot multiple times. Cruz told his podcast listeners this week that “if you have a firearm, the odds of that confrontation escalating rise dramatically.” He added, “We are seeing, sadly, leftists targeting ICE agents for murder. And if you have that firearm and you’re engaged in violence, the agent’s perception of the physical threat to them is understandably much, much higher.” (Cruz offered no examples of “leftists” having targeted ICE agents “for murder,” and Pretti wasn’t “engaged in violence” when he was killed.) ................(more)

https://www.ms.now/opinion/republicans-iran-protesters-americans-first-amendment

[Norrrm]

1. Cruz wants protesters armed (in Iran) D'ya suppose he wanted the 'peaceful tourists' / protesters on Jan6 armed?

Cruz wants protesters armed (in Iran)

D'ya suppose he wanted the 'peaceful tourists' / protesters on Jan6 armed?

They were looking for Congresscritters to capture and treat appropriately.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday called for the U.S. to arm Iranian protesters amid the Iranian government’s crackdown in the country.

“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW,” Cruz wrote Tuesday in a post on the social platform X.

https://thehill.com/homenews/5713091-cruz-supports-arming-iranian-protesters/