While the rest of the world is glued to the deadline President Trump set for Iran’s cooperation, there’s still no sign of a truce back home. In one of the most disturbing subplots of the war, Democrats aren’t just undermining our troops, they’re rooting against them in a sick display of political opportunism. That anti-Americanism took an especially nasty turn on Monday when a sitting U.S. senator, Connecticut’s Chris Murphy (D), celebrated our latest setback in the Strait of Hormuz. “Awesome,” he responded to a report that 26 of the regime’s ships had evaded the U.S. blockade.

Shock and outrage didn’t begin to describe people’s reactions. “It takes an insane level of Trump Derangement Syndrome to cheer for a terrorist regime that chants ‘Death to America,’” White House Spokesperson Olivia Wales shook her head. “Chris Murphy is an America-last, radical left lunatic who stands for illegal aliens and Iranian terrorists over the American people. The only thing ‘awesome’ will be when he is out of office,” she told Fox.

“Was Sen. Murphy’s account hacked?” the Washington Examiner’s Byron York wondered, trying to understand how even the president’s fiercest political rivals could justify such a disgusting comment. “I love when Iran wins, it’s awesome…’ – a UNITED STATES SENATOR ???????????!!!!!!!!!” Matt Van Swol, a former Department of Energy employee, responded.

Desperate to do damage control, Murphy’s office tried to shrug off the tweet as “sarcasm.” But the reality is much more sinister, Article III Project Founder Mike Davis insisted. “This U.S. senator is publicly cheering for America’s enemy during war. The Senate should vote to censure him,” he argued. And not just because he’s a traitor, some would point out, but because what he’s siding with is a regime that’s spent the last 47 years massacring its own people (including tens of thousands this year) and countless U.S. soldiers.

Unfortunately, Murphy’s reckless messaging is part of a broader crisis in the Democratic Party, whose allegiance in these hyper-partisan times is no longer to America or our national interest but to winning at all costs. This war, regardless of whether the public would have chosen it or not, has already made the world a safer place. “We’ve never taken on a country of 93 million people that had the most fearsome, terrible reputation of being dangerous and unpredictable, and running the Middle East with a ring of fire proxies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon,” The Daily Signal’s Victor Davis Hanson emphasized. “They had terrified seven presidents. And yet in five weeks, we destroyed its ability to make war.” Including nuclear war.

Disarming a country bent on obliterating the West ought to be a cause that every sane American can rally around. And yet, Hanson points out, “From the Democrats’ grandees in the House and Senate,” he said, “to the liberal media, The New York Times, particularly The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, and network — even The Wall Street Journal’s news section. And then we have some people on the right who have also looked at the war and said it was lost, it went south, it was gonna [be] World War III, blah, blah, blah.”

What do all these detractors have in common? First, they want the war to fail, he argues, “because it would reflect badly on President Donald Trump and his administration.” Secondly, if you’re a Democrat, that outcome “would give you some momentum going into the midterms. And if you were a disaffected former supporter, it would prove to the world that you were right all along, and Donald Trump … got us into a forever, unwinnable war.”

After the president offered the regime a chance to negotiate, the Left’s next best hope was that Trump would bend to the political pressure back home and from Europe and cave to Iran’s demands. “He didn’t,” Hanson said. “He’s never given in to anybody. He’s always done what he thought was right, whether you agree with it or not.” Now, “Iran is ruined militarily, and it’s going to be ruined economically if it doesn’t give in.”

So you can forgive Trump for being frustrated that, as he contends, “The Democrats are doing everything possible to hurt the very strong position we are in with respect to Iran.”

And it is strong, the real experts agree. “Right now, most of the cards are in President Trump’s vest,” Executive Director of the Middle East Forum Gregg Roman underscored on Monday’s “Washington Watch.” “And I don’t think the Iranians have much to offer. If anything happens, it’ll be because the U.S. reimposes the tight military blockade that it has had in place on the Strait of Hormuz since last week. … [T]he Iranian economy, which is siphoning off $500 million a day, won’t be able to tolerate it much longer, and they’ll eventually have to talk.”

“Every clock in this crisis runs against the regime,” Roman reiterated. “The only clock[s] running against ourselves as Americans are the ones we wind up ourselves.” An example, he added, is continuing to offer ceasefire deals that give them an “incentive to continue refusing to negotiate. That’s not patience for them. It’s a subsidy for their intransigent behavior. … You don’t negotiate the terms of your own defeat from the losing side of the table, and the Iranians have not realized this yet. When they do, that’s where you’ll see actual real progress made.”

Frankly, he pressed, “President Trump should continue along the path that he chose after the 39th day ended with this war. And he should continue on the path to trying to complete his goals — either by right or by might.”

In the meantime, The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn adeptly summarizes, “Trump’s critics can’t root for American victory because it brings him credit. … And there you have the twisted logic of the Hate Trump chorus,” he laments. “Because they are more worried about Donald Trump getting credit for bringing down a murderous regime, they can’t look forward to the liberation of millions of people.”

Ironically, everyone — including Trump’s unhinged critics — should be grateful the president doesn’t listen to their self-serving advice. “Time is not my adversary,” he declared on Truth Social. “The only thing that matters is that we finally, after 47 years, straighten out the MESS that other Presidents let happen because they didn’t have the Courage or Foresight to do what had to be done with respect to Iran. We’re in it, and it will be done RIGHT, and we won’t let the Weak and Pathetic Democrats, TRAITORS ALL, who for years have been talking about the Dangers of Iran, and that something has to be done, but now, since I’m the one doing it, belittle the accomplishments of our Military and the Trump Administration.”

From here, Hanson speculates, three things can happen, and every one of them is a favorable outcome for the world:

1. “[Iran] may decide they want to go down in a blaze of glory and empty their arsenal of remnant ballistic missiles and drones. If they do that, they will be in darkness, and they will have no oil for the next 10 years.”
2. They agree to negotiations. “And if they don’t abide by [the terms of an agreement], the United States can force them to abide by them.”
3. The regime gives up, and eventually, the people rise up and take over.

In all of this, McGurn warns, “The Democrats don’t matter. Nor do the Republicans. Or NATO, or other U.S. allies. Pope Leo XIV is at best a footnote. All that now matters for this president is that the U.S. prevails and the Islamic Republic ceases to be a menace to America and its interests.” Thankfully, “The president seems to get it.”

But at some point, Democrats have to decide if their own war against this administration is worth it. When Americans start to question which side Democrats are on, this is no longer about Trump. It’s about the viability of their party once he’s gone. And right now, this gross impulse to root for our country to lose is about to make it exponentially harder for them to win.