President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is seizing on the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, highlighting the move in Facebook ads and email blasts.
“Republicans are good at killing terrorists and this is a reminder of that,” Michael Ahrens, communications director of the Republican National Committee, told the Associated Press.
“ANOTHER dead terrorist,” shouted the subject line on a Sunday fundraising email.
Ironically, campaigning on military aggression with Iran is exactly what Trump warned then-President Barack Obama not to do before his 2012 reelection.
The president repeatedly predicted years ago that his predecessor would attack Iran in order to get re-elected. pic.twitter.com/9zGciVOCjy
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 3, 2020
He also called Obama “weak and ineffective,” predicting that he would attack Iran due to his lack of ability to “negotiate.”
Tensions have escalated since the strike, with Iranian forces firing missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops Tuesday night. Before that, per the Washington Post, Trump was arguing to aides that the strike would be politically popular and that Iran wouldn’t “do anything too stupid.”
There were reportedly no casualties from the missile strikes. According to CNN, some administration officials believe that Iran purposely aimed for areas devoid of Americans to send a message rather than to do real damage.
Trump tweeted that “all was well!” Tuesday night even before possible casualties had been assessed. He is scheduled to address the nation Wednesday morning.
