'Unhinged madman': US politicians react to Trump's expletive-laden threat to Iran

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Sun 5 Apr 2026 13.01 EDT
Last modified on Sun 5 Apr 2026 13.02 EDT


Some US politicians have reacted with alarm and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the fuckin’ strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards”, as he threatened to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.

The US president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “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. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”. It comes as the Trump administration hurtles towards another self-imposed deadline – this time, Monday – for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

One of the world’s most critical shipping lanes for oil and gas, the strait has been effectively shut since the US and Israel launched war on Iran at the end of February, causing oil prices around the world to skyrocket to record highs. Trump has threatened Tehran with several deadlines in a bid to reopen the key maritime corridor, and has fixated his frustration on European and Nato allies who have rejected the legality of the US-Israeli war on Iran and refused to intervene in the strait of Hormuz crisis – prompting Trump to threaten to withdraw the US from Nato.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch ally turned Trump critic, said everyone in the Trump administration who claims to be a Christian needs to “beg forgiveness from God” and intervene in the president’s “madness”. In a lengthy post on X, the former Republican congresswoman wrote: “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.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/05/trump-iran-threats-politician-reactions

[Deep State Witch]

1. He Didn't Write That

Steven Cheung wrote that. It just sounds different than his usual word salad.

[Walleye]

3. I get the feeling it was a meltdown on Trump's part and whoever wrote it just transcribed

[BattleRow]

8. Was this Satan channelled diatribe during the executive time out yesterday?

[thesquanderer]

20. Andy Borowitz said a clue that he might not have written it was "the startlingly correct use of an apostrophe" :-) n/t

[mdbl]

43. I thought that too.

[Lifeafter70]

4. I thought the same

But I would have guessed steven miller

[Wicked Blue]

5. who is Steven Cheung?

[usonian]

7. Cheung is his Himmler and Klaus Barbie wrapped into one Sumo Wrestler who managed to wash out of Sac. State.

Looks do not deceive with him.

[poli-junkie]

12. He's grotesque -- so ugly.

[DBoon]

17. referred to as "Odd Job" after the James Bond character

[RazorbackExpat]

38. He reminds me of Wo Fat

from the old Hawaii Five-O

[SunSeeker]

23. Like Stephen Miller, he probably couldn't get a date in high school.

And is still bitter about it.

[IbogaProject]

9. Mr Cheung was the slob who assaulted our military

When they tried to do a photo shoot at the big cemetary and the staff tried to stop them. Mr Cheung assaulted one or more woman uniformed service members who were enforcing standard strict rules about conduct in the military cemetary.

[Marcuse]

41. Cheung is at far right

[SCantiGOP]

13. Steven Cheung is,

by all appearances, a character in the Lord of the Rings. Looks more like a troll than a human, and acts like a lackey in Mordor.

[TBF]

27. Director of Communications for the WH -

and he has been known to be hostile in his written interactions. There's a whole wiki post on him.

[sop]

30. Cheung is the WH Communications Director, he oversees Trump's social media content.

[OnlinePoker]

32. Why does he look like a henchman in a Bond film? n/t

[sop]

33. An much uglier Oddjob...

[Bayard]

34. OMG!

That is one ugly dude!

[mcar]

6. Does it matter, though?

It's posted under his name.

[ananda]

15. I don't think Trump himself has been writing anything we're seeing.

It's always looked as though they're trying to imitate him.

I mean, who's running this show anyway?

[MadameButterfly]

21. If Trump isn't writing them

Does he know what is in them? Is he fine with them?

[TBF]

29. I personally think he has dementia and his family

should be taking much better care of him.

[TBF]

28. Steven Miller, with assistance from the Heritage Foundation. nt

[Bluetus]

2. Who had "MTG will save us" on their bingo card?

[SergeStorms]

11. Empty G is not our friend.

She's a snake in the grass and, just like Trump, cares only about herself.

The old proverb - "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" - does not apply here. Caveat emptor. Do not buy what she's selling.

[FoxNewsSucks]

14. I don't buy it. She is totally not sincere

She never made up for or apologized for any of the rancid things she said and did, and as far as I know, still had that "there are two genders" sign on her office door until the day she left.

Let her help get rid of tRump, that's all she's good for.

[Bluetus]

16. I would not automatically trust her, but

She seems to have given up her political career, or else I don't understand what kind of strategy she is going for.

People say that much of MAGA is very disappointed in Trump, which is hard to believe because Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do, other than the Epstein stuff.

If MTG is trying to return as the Queen of MAGA, she had better figure out that MAGA is only half the size that it once was. Everything Trump touches dies, and MAGA is no exception.

[SergeStorms]

45. There's about 30%....

of Americans who are stubbornly "truth averse." That cult thing......still.

[Bluetus]

46. Probably a higher percentage than that. That is a clue.

It means that we can't win entirely based on the validity of our arguments. We MUST find ways to get people EMOTIONALLY connected with progressive alternatives to the mess that the Republicans are giving us. WE have to do that. We cannot count on people just getting it on their own.

[SergeStorms]

47. Agreed.

That's how the Big Orange Fascist Pig keeps his MAGAts in line: emotional dependency on his lies, always keeping their hate and fear at a fever pitch.
We wouldn't want to copy his tactics. Hate and fear aren't our currency, but we can appeal to the better angels of people's of people's nature, and TrumpCo. has paved the way for us. People are sich to death of the hate and fear. It's all-consuming and takes tremendous energy to maintain. Being happy, being civil to each other, those are the paths we must take, even to the MAGAs. I can forgive, but forgetting will take quite some time.

[Bluetus]

48. Emotions take many forms

Absolutely right:

"We wouldn't want to copy his tactics. Hate and fear aren't our currency, but we can appeal to the better angels of people's of people's nature, "

But sterile white papers and academic arguments do nothing for us. We need to be just as passionate and visceral as the Republicans, but do so while speaking truthfully and factually. Some Democrats are starting to get good at this. Most are not, and that's a problem. The old school Dems say "just let each candidate figure out what works in their district." While it is certainly wise to read the room, there are SKILLS involved in persuading people. This stuff is trainable

One big problem is that most political candidates at the national level are lawyers. Lawyers are train to make persuasive arguments, but only within a fairly tight set of rules in court. Their ability to appeal to emotions is quite limited. So in a sense, they are trained NOT to connect on an emotional level. Of course, the best lawyers find ways to make that connection within the rules. But most of our politicians are completely clueless about this.

When businesses have this problem (and all do) they pay for sales training to teach the skils of persuasion. This is a real skill set, just as an engineer is trained to calculate loads on a bridge span and a photographer is trained on the use of light. We need to make policy real for people.

[MadameButterfly]

22. She actually sounds rational and responsible

She was so crazy at the beginning, it's hard to believe they're the same person.
I get finding out tha tyou were deceived, and I can imagine she was a true believer and fell for his lies.
I just can't imagine her being this cogent.

[Bluetus]

25. We have witnessed miracles of psychology over and over

It seems that the MAGA psychosis is cured immediately as soon as they announce their retirement from Congress.

Amazing medical mysteries.

[MadameButterfly]

36. Yes, and I also wonder if she has hired some staff

to write here statements that seem far to cogent to come from her.
Yes she is signing off on them, but she just isn't smart enough to make the arguments she's making.

[Bluetus]

37. Hard to say. It is performance art either way

My guess is that the halfway intelligent MTG is the real character and the MAGA MTG was more performative.

But there is a very real possibility that this is part of a meta strategy where she wants to position herself as the "REBOUND MAGA" leader. You know, "All the stuff that MAGA should be, and we thought we were getting with Trump until he lost his mind, but I will be the REAL MAGA for y'all. Go Jewish Space Lasers !!!"

That could be the game. I don't think that would be a winning strategy because MAGA is losing most of its energy. I don't think there is enough left of MAGA to elect anybody.

[MadameButterfly]

39. maybe right about MTG,

I hope you are right about MAGA

[Bluetus]

40. I'm not saying that the MAGA people have suddenly become informed, reasonable, and intelligent

I am only saying that as a "movement" it is fractured.

I don't know that we have looked enough at that whole life-cycle. Clearly the teabag thing predated MAGA. The teabag was nearly 100% astroturf, in the same sense that Trump paid people to cheer him down the escalator. It was stage management, but it worked because the legacy media is always looking for something they can declare to be news. This is cheap content for them. They don't need any news bureaus, foreign offices, or famous reporters. A couple of interns with a camera can get the job done.

That was really the culmination of 60 years of effort by the industrial pollution society led by Fred Koch and later, his sons. That still survives as a force, in the form of the Heritage Foundation and other similar groups. But they are losing their influence.

Trump was able to make himself the face of the teabag people, effectively wrestling that away from Koch and friends and rebranding as MAGA. That was a dominant force, but the rise of the Tech Bros, crypto mavens, and master market manipulators created a cadre that were able to control riches far greater than anything Koch ever did. Koch (privately held) has revenues of about $125 billion a year. That's a lot. And if it were a public company, that might be valued at 2X or 3X revenues, or about $500 billion. In contrast, the tech bros control companies in industries that value at 10x - 25x earnings, even giving trillion dollar valuations to companies that have few or no profits. And then you add crypto to that, which is another $3-4 trillion, some of which is concentrated in the hands of the tech bros.

People like Koch who make real things (pipelines, refineries, paper products, etc) have lost most of their influence to the people who dream things. So, what does that tell us about the future of MAGA. Well, we still have at least the vestiges of an electoral system, so whoever is in charge needs to manipulate public opinion. Obviously their preference is to buy the mass media companies, But ultimately they need the MAGA dumbasses to cast votes. Trump is on his way out and the MAGA movement, per se, is fractured. But the MAGA dumbasses are all still there for the taking. They aren't any less idiotic than they were 10 years ago.

Watch this space.

[MadameButterfly]

42. The numbers in $

are pretty mind numbing. Interesting the distinction between making real things and--whatever the others do. I have long wondered what crypto is really for. The Tech bros offer actual services though, don't they?

[sakabatou]

10. Oh, NOW they see it?!

JFC...

[eringer]

18. Don't let the Convicted Felon Off the Hook

He wrote this one himself!

[Beartracks]

24. Wow. He sounds absolutely fuhrerious.

[Goonch]

26. :-{) BE AFRAID

[Deuxcents]

31. What "politicians"? all I read was MTG sounding the alarm..gonna take a lot more than just her

[BumRushDaShow]

35. There are a whole pile of articles out there with "reactions" from politicians

And it's from across the political (and global) aisles/perspective. The fact that it was done on what is considered Christianity's "Highest Holy Day" made it even more egregious.

[tonekat]

44. Meanwhile in the NYT

"Oh, look at the moon!"