‘Madman, Unhinged Lunatic’: Democrats Sound Alarm Over Trump’s Iran Threat, Call For His Impeachment

Last Updated:April 08, 2026, 02:52 IST

Top Democratic leaders called Donald Trump “completely unhinged” and asked the House to be brought back immediately into legislative session.

U.S. President Donald Trump (AFP Photo)

US President Donald Trump’s recent threat to Iran, where he said an “entire civilisation will die tonight” if his demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are not met by Tuesday, 8 pm ET, have set off alarm bells in the US Congress, with Democrats calling him an “unhinged lunatic” and demanding that he be impeached.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said, “A whole civilisation will die tonightnever to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” He had hinted at broad strikes on Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, which would impact millions of Iranian people.

Former US Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2024 US election, called Trump’s threats “abhorrent” and accused the Republican of planning war crimes.

Senator Chris Murphy called Trump’s words “pure evil” and accused him of proposing a war crime. “Would you be able to live with yourself if you threatened your neighbor’s child with murder in order to get your neighbor to behave the way you wanted? Would you work for a company that got business by threatening to kill the families of potential customers? Of course not.”

“The President of the United States is a madman,” said Rep. Jim McGovern. Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted.”

“To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat,” she added.

Senator Mark Kelly said Trump’s behaviour was “unhinged” and was making Americans less safe. “After a 25-year career in the United States Navy, I have never met or served with anyone who so completely lacks the qualities of good leadership as Donald Trump does,” he said, adding that his actions could massively escalate the war.

Democrats Call For Trump’s Impeachment

Top House Democratic leaders in a joint statement called Trump “completely unhinged” and asked the House to be brought back immediately into legislative session. “His statement threatening to eradicate an entire civilisation shocks the conscience and requires a decisive congressional response,” said the joint statement from Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and four other top House Democrats.

“The House must come back into session immediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III,” the Democratic lawmakers said.

Several Democratic leaders have called for invoking the 25th Amendment to impeach Trump. “The President must be removed. If Congress is too cowardly to do it, his own Cabinet must,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell.

ALSO READ: Thousands Form Human Shields Across Iran’s Power Plants, Bridges As Trump’s Strike Deadline Nears

“This man is threatening mass killings and war crimes on social media posts. When will enough be enough? This is why the 25th Amendment and impeachment were created. These aren’t policy differences. He is threatening crimes,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar called Trump’s threat “sickeningly evil” and said he must be impeached. “When will it be enough for my Republican colleagues to grow spines and remove him from office?” she said.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib called the president a “maniac” who should be removed if the 25th Amendment is invoked. “After bombing a school and massacring young girls, the war criminal in the White House is threatening genocide,” she wrote, referring to the attack on the girls’ elementary school in Iran’s Minab at the beginning of the war.

Former Allies Speak Out

Even some political figures once close to Trump are calling for his removal through the US Constitution’s 25th Amendment.

“25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America,” former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “We cannot kill an entire civilisation. This is evil and madness.”

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said Trump’s threat “cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran”, accusing him of undermining America’s long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and “directly endangering Americans both abroad and at home.”

Anthony Scaramucci, a financier who briefly worked in Trump’s first White House, urged Republicans to “wake up” because the president “is calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE. Seek his removal immediately.”

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