'Draft-Dodging Coward': Tammy Duckworth Absolutely Tears Into Trump During Takedown Of The Iran War
Forbes Breaking News
337,192 views Apr 16, 2026
During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) spoke about the war in Iran.
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[미국 정치] 읽어볼만한 태미 덕워스 의원의 상원의 트럼프 비판 <병역 기피 겁쟁이>
일리노이주 상원의원입니다.
저는 이라크에서 입은 부상을 치료하며 월터 리드 육군 의료 센터에서 거의 1년을 보냈습니다.
그 액자는 현재 제 집무실 책상 옆에 걸려 있습니다.
총사령관이라면 자신의 결정에 생사가 달린 장병들만큼이나 유능하고 규율 있으며 전문적이어야 합니다.
질문을 하나 던지겠습니다.
저는 이라크에서의 모든 임무를 자랑스럽게 생각하지만, 제가 겪었던 것과 같은 끝없고 불필요하며 정당성 없는 전쟁을 다른 누구도 겪지 않기를 바랍니다.
트럼프는 자신의 무능함을 장병들의 용맹함 뒤에 숨기려 해왔습니다.
문제는 총사령관이라는 사람이 상황실에서 전쟁을 끝낼 궁리를 하기보다 자신의 <마리 앙투아네트 무도회장>에 대해 이야기하는 데 더 많은 시간을 보낸다는 점입니다.
심지어 그는 바티칸과 전쟁을 벌이고 교황과 싸움을 걸기도 합니다.
트럼프는 모든 단계에서의 실패에도 불구하고 <임무 완수>를 선언하려 합니다.
베트남 전쟁 때는 골극을 핑계로 도망쳤던 자가 어떻게 감히 오늘날 우리 국가를 자신이 선택한 전쟁으로 끌어들일 수 있습니까?
저는 트럼프와 달리 사막 모래 위에 내 피가 쏟아지는 것이 어떤 기분인지 알고 있습니다.
저는 20년 전의 약속을 지키기 위해 이 자리에 섰습니다.
헌법 제1조는 오직 의회만이 전쟁 선포권을 가짐을 명시하고 있습니다.
만약 이란과의 전쟁이 정말로 정당했다면 의회로 와서 설명하십시오.
오직 병역 기피 겁쟁이만이 전쟁을 이런 식으로 다룹니다.
동료 의원 여러분, 선택하십시오.
세진님을 위한 코멘트
태미 덕워스 의원의 이 연설은 매우 강력하고 날 선 비판을 담고 있다. 특히 본인이 전쟁 영웅이자 부상병 출신이라는 점을 강조하며, 병역 의무를 피했던 트럼프 전 대통령의 도덕적 결함을 정면으로 타격한다.
진정성의 대비: 의원 본인의 <군인 신조>와 트럼프의 <개인적 이익>을 대비시켜 총사령관으로서의 자격을 의문시한다.
헌법적 가치 강조: 전쟁 선포권이 의회에 있음을 상기시키며 행정부의 독주를 견제하려는 의회 본연의 역할을 강조한다.
정치적 압박: 공화당 의원들에게 <헌법 수호>와 <대통령 보호> 중 하나를 선택하라고 요구하며 강력한 정치적 메시지를 던진다.
세진님께서는 세계인으로서의 정체성을 가지고 계시지만 [cite: 2026-02-01], 한 국가의 지도자가 갖추어야 할 책임감과 군 통수권자로서의 도덕성에 대한 이 날카로운 비평은 현대 정치사에서 주목할 만한 장면이라 생각한다.
이 연설 내용이나 덕워스 의원의 태도에 대해 어떻게 생각하는가?
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Transcript
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0:088 secondsSenator from Illinois.
0:099 secondsThank you, Mr. President. I've come to the floor today as a United States senator, of course, but also as a former soldier who served in uniform the last
0:1717 secondstime a president rashly sent our men and women into an unjustified war in the Middle East. I spent nearly a year at
0:2525 secondsWalter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from the injuries I earned in Iraq. And every morning as I struggled to sit up straight every time I was
0:3333 secondsrolled into yet another surgery, I made sure to read the poster I had next to my hospital bed. It was a framed copy of
0:4141 secondsthe Soldier's Creed, the words that those lucky enough to wear the Army uniform live by. That same framed copy
0:4848 secondsnow hangs by my desk here in DC. And as I glanced at it this morning, I realized that there's perhaps no greater proof
0:5656 secondsthat Donald Trump never dained to served a day in his life than the mockery he makes of the soldiers creeds commitments every single day he has been in office.
1:051 minute, 5 secondsThe creed may be associated with the army, but the sentiments hold true for all of those who wear the uniform of this great nation. Its 13 lines tells us
1:141 minute, 14 secondsto be disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained, proficient, and to look out for those who look out for
1:221 minute, 22 secondsus, to look out for one another. Donald Trump is supposed to be our service members, commanderin-chief. The very,
1:291 minute, 29 secondsvery least we should expect of him is to epitomize the standards that we ask our troops to swear by, to live by. The very
1:381 minute, 38 secondsvery least we should expect of the commander-in-chief is to be as competent, disciplined, and professional
1:451 minute, 45 secondsas the men and women whose very lives hinge on his capacity to lead. On that competence and professionalism we expect
1:531 minute, 53 secondsto see in the White House. The creed makes clear that our troops will never quit, that they will never leave a fallen comrade behind. Yet, Cadet Bone Spurs is someone who will always quit.
2:052 minutes, 5 secondsAnd every hour he orders our service members to remain in unnecessary growing danger. He is proving that Donald Trump
2:132 minutes, 13 secondsdoes not give a damn about leaving a comrade or so so many comrades behind.
2:202 minutes, 20 secondsEvery moment that Donald Trump leaves our heroes mired in the muck of this illegal war of choice in Iran. He is showing that he cares more about saving
2:282 minutes, 28 secondshis own face than leading our troops. So I come to the floor today with a simple question. Our military men and women go out there every day and do their jobs,
2:382 minutes, 38 secondsno matter the risk. All on Donald Trump's orders. So I ask you, Mr.
2:432 minutes, 43 secondsPresident, why the hell can't you do your job, too? Why can't you live up to the same level of proficiency as our
2:502 minutes, 50 secondstroops? Look, I'm proud of every mission I completed in Iraq. But I would never ever wish another endless, needless,
2:592 minutes, 59 secondsunjustified war like the one I served in on anybody else. I wouldn't wish it on the heroes who are packing up their rucks right now, knowing they may never touch American soil again.
3:103 minutes, 10 secondsI wouldn't wish it on their families who are being forced to spend their days anxiously awaiting news from half a world away. And I wouldn't wish it on the American people who want their
3:193 minutes, 19 secondspresident to focus on bringing the costs down here at home, not starting new expensive taxpayer funded wars
3:263 minutes, 26 secondscontinents away. But Trump either doesn't understand or he simply doesn't care about that. From the moment this conflict began, the president has tried
3:353 minutes, 35 secondsto shroud his incompetence behind the valor of our service members. When asked to justify his illegal actions, Donald
3:443 minutes, 44 secondsTrump's tried to hide his cowardice behind our heroes courage. He's tried to act as if questioning why we're at war
3:533 minutes, 53 secondsis the same as questioning the skill and bravery of our troops themselves. It isn't. And I'm here to call on the president of the United States
4:024 minutes, 2 secondsbecause I know that our military will always do the best job possible. When given a mission, our service members
4:084 minutes, 8 secondswill say, "Yes, I will serve." They don't say, "Why me?" They don't ask,
4:144 minutes, 14 seconds"Will I be safe?" No. They dust off their boots. They show up and they do what's asked of them to the best of
4:214 minutes, 21 secondstheir ability every single time. time after time, tour after tour, no matter the risk, no matter the sacrifice,
4:294 minutes, 29 secondsthey will always, always execute their orders to the maximum capability of their professionalism, and they are proud to do it. That isn't the problem.
4:404 minutes, 40 secondsThe problem here is that the person who's supposed to be leading them spends more time talking about his Marie Anttoinet ballroom than he does sitting
4:484 minutes, 48 secondsin the situation room trying to get us out of this war. The problem is the guy who claims to be making America great again looks at the word America and only
4:574 minutes, 57 secondssees the letters M and E in the middle of it. The problem is that the commanderin-chief not only has no idea
5:045 minutes, 4 secondswhat the endstate is like for his war of choice but appropriately doesn't even know what the term endstate means at
5:115 minutes, 11 secondsall. The problem is that even in the last two weeks, the man who is in charge of our nation's nuclear codes has
5:205 minutes, 20 secondshimself gone increasingly nuclear. He's not believing literal war with Iran is enough. He's now gone on to proverbial
5:285 minutes, 28 secondswar with the Vatican, choosing to pick fights with the Pope of our people, the Pope. Rather than try to engage in any
5:365 minutes, 36 secondssemblance of real diplomacy to end the conflict in the Middle East, he's threatened to annihilate an entire civilization,
5:445 minutes, 44 secondsterrifying people overseas and here at home who are understandably worried about retaliatory strikes. And now after
5:525 minutes, 52 secondsone halfass day of so-called negotiations with Iran, he's whipssawed to the next risky frontier in the
5:595 minutes, 59 secondsregion. A dangerous complex partial military blockade of the Straight of Hormuz, launching it at our nation's expense with no justification,
6:106 minutes, 10 secondsno explanation or any real plan of what comes next. His only plan seems to rely
6:186 minutes, 18 secondson the valor, the willingness to sacrifice, the professionalism of our military men and women. But let me tell
6:256 minutes, 25 secondsyou that is not enough. They need a true commander.
6:306 minutes, 30 secondsBut Trump is Trump and act and he is actively unabashedly telling us how to ignore what we are all seeing with our
6:386 minutes, 38 secondsown eyes. He's trying to declare mission accomplished despite his obvious failures at every single turn. He's declaring, and I quote, "We did it.
6:476 minutes, 47 secondsWe're winning after all signs point to the opposite.
6:516 minutes, 51 secondsWe're still at war. Americans are still at risk. Civilians across the region are still dying for no reason that anyone can truly articulate.
7:007 minutesIn reality, the only thing that Donald Trump has accomplished over the last six weeks is more chaos. Because of his
7:097 minutes, 9 secondschoices, a new younger Ayatollah is in charge who seems even more radical than his father was. 13 American heroes have been killed with hundreds more wounded.
7:217 minutes, 21 secondsMore goats parents are grieving their children. And more American families are struggling to afford the spiking gas
7:287 minutes, 28 secondsprices. They're unsure if they can pay even more every time they go to the gas station, but they have to because they
7:377 minutes, 37 secondsneed to get to work. They've got to take their kids to school. They got to take their aging parents to the doctor. The farmers of Illinois, the farmers of this
7:457 minutes, 45 secondsgreat nation have seen at the time that we should be planting their inputs costs skyrocket because of
7:537 minutes, 53 secondsDonald Trump's war of choice. Look, war is always tragic, but when it's preventable,
8:008 minuteswhen it's unjustified, it's not just tragic, it's a travesty.
8:068 minutes, 6 secondsTrump wouldn't let himself be dragged in by the bone spurs to serve in Vietnam.
8:118 minutes, 11 secondsSo, how dare he how dare he drag our nation into a war of his choice today?
8:178 minutes, 17 secondsBut this draft dodger, this fivetime draft dodger is too infatuated with maximum pressure to make a serious
8:258 minutes, 25 secondseffort at even minimum diplomacy. Once again, the Trump foreign policy doctrine
8:328 minutes, 32 secondshas proven reckless, senseless, and dangerous. A doctrine in which fact and fiction are one and the same. One in
8:408 minutes, 40 secondswhich our commander-in-chief seems to come to military decisions by virtue of tempered tantrums and announces them via tweet in the middle of the night and one
8:498 minutes, 49 secondsin which avarice outweighs advice every single time. Look, unlike Trump, I
8:578 minutes, 57 secondsactually know what it's like to leave your blood soaking into the desert sand a half a world away. So, I know what
9:049 minutes, 4 secondsit's like. I know what it's like and what is at stake for the troops this administration is sending into harm's
9:119 minutes, 11 secondsway. We must safeguard their valor and their professionalism by doing our jobs.
9:189 minutes, 18 secondsI can tell you this, it's a whole lot easier to cover your eyes and order other Americans to sacrifice their
9:259 minutes, 25 secondschildren and sacrifice themselves if you don't have to do any of the sacrificing yourself. It's easier to send other
9:329 minutes, 32 secondspeople's children to fight in a war if you know your own children are cozy in a penthouse suite somewhere.
9:409 minutes, 40 secondsIt's easier to ignore the everyday realities of war from inside the hallowed hold house of the White House where you've got McDonald's being door dashed to the Oval Office.
9:519 minutes, 51 secondsBut it's nearly impossible.
9:539 minutes, 53 secondsIt's nearly impossible if you've been actually outside the wire yourself.
9:599 minutes, 59 secondsSo, I've come to the floor today to keep true a promise I first made over two decades ago. I ran for Congress not
10:0710 minutes, 7 secondsbecause I wanted to be in Congress, not because I wanted to be a congressman or a senator. I ran for Congress to honor the men and women who carried me out of that bloody war zone.
10:1910 minutes, 19 secondsI made a promise that when the drums of war started
10:2610 minutes, 26 secondsbeating again, I would be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully consider the true cause of war.
10:3810 minutes, 38 secondsNot just in terms of money, but in human lives and in the sacrifices of the men and women who wear the colors of this great nation.
10:5510 minutes, 55 secondsThat was the vow I made to the troops I deployed with and to all of those who've served since I've hung up my uniform.
11:1411 minutes, 14 secondsI'm here today under this great Capitol dome to keep that most sacred oath because right now thousands of our
11:2211 minutes, 22 secondstroops are ready to do their jobs, even if it means laying down their lives. And
11:2811 minutes, 28 secondsit's tragic. It's disgusting to me that even as they prepare to do their jobs,
11:3511 minutes, 35 secondsour president and some members of this chamber seem so eager to neglect their own. So, as those drums of war echo
11:4311 minutes, 43 secondslouder than they have ever in years, I am here to remind Donald Trump that he does not have the authority to
11:5111 minutes, 51 secondsunilaterally force us into war. He may never have read the Constitution, but I have. So let me direct his attention to
11:5911 minutes, 59 secondsarticle one which makes clear that only Congress only Congress has the power to
12:0712 minutes, 7 secondsdeclare war. We are the ones tasked with deciding when and how Americans are sent into combat. We are the ones charged
12:1512 minutes, 15 secondswith that most solemn duty. Yet Trump is acting as if Article One simply doesn't exist. As if obeying the Constitution is
12:2312 minutes, 23 secondsan is optional. as if our founding document is just a yellowing crumbling piece of paper that he can crumble up and toss into the garbage can at will.
12:3112 minutes, 31 secondsThis should not must not be a partisan issue. No matter if you're starting struggling to pay rent or if your name
12:3912 minutes, 39 secondsis plastered in fake gold on a building on Fifth Avenue, no one can ignore the Constitution,
12:4712 minutes, 47 secondsespecially if you've sworn an oath to defend it. No matter if you're a Mara Lago worker pulling down double shifts or the president of the United States,
12:5612 minutes, 56 secondsno one is above the law. Look, I believe fully that there are certain solemn
13:0413 minutes, 4 secondsurgent times when our military must be called upon to defend us. There are certain moments when the threat in question is significant and imminent.
13:1213 minutes, 12 secondsinstances when military force is the most effective tool at hand and that using it is necessary to protect America
13:1913 minutes, 19 secondsand her interests. The thing is from little in what little information the Trump administration has shared publicly
13:2713 minutes, 27 secondsthat he hasn't immediately contradicted in sometimes the same sentence. This was not one of those times. But if the
13:3513 minutes, 35 secondsadministration thinks that I'm wrong and there was imminent, reasonable, actual threat to America, then guess what? The floor is theirs. Come to the Senate.
13:4613 minutes, 46 secondsWe're just 20 minutes from the White House.
13:4913 minutes, 49 secondsIt's not hard to find. It's even faster in your motorcade, Mr. President. It's not hard to find us. We're the building with a big dome on top. We're only a
13:5813 minutes, 58 seconds20-minute walk. Trump knows where the Capitol building is. It's a spot he told the insurrectionists to march towards on January 6th.
14:0714 minutes, 7 secondsSo if his team actually believes that war is unjustified, then they need to come to Congress and do their jobs,
14:1414 minutes, 14 secondsexplain their case, giving the American people a say through their elected representatives, the members who sit at every one of this these desks in this
14:2214 minutes, 22 secondschamber. They need to respect the American people enough to finally tell them why they're being forced to bear
14:3014 minutes, 30 secondsthe cost of this conflict both in dollars and cents and dollar and daughters and sons. They need to respect
14:3814 minutes, 38 secondsour service members enough to prove why war in with Iran is worth more children growing up without their mom or dad.
14:4514 minutes, 45 secondsThey need to make it clear that they've thought this through and well enough that they can actually articulate what an end state with this war of choice in
14:5314 minutes, 53 secondsIran would even look like. Then when their case has been made, when the debate here in Congress is completed,
15:0115 minutes, 1 secondthen the members of this chamber must vote. It's our duty.
15:0615 minutes, 6 secondsYes, it is our burden. It's the least we can do for those who are willing to sacrifice everything to safeguard this
15:1315 minutes, 13 secondsdemocracy. But if the Trump administration refuses to do that, if they refuse to adhere to the Constitution,
15:2115 minutes, 21 secondswell then it begs the question, what are you hiding? What are you hiding, Mr. President?
15:3015 minutes, 30 secondsWe already know you're incompetent. What else are you hiding?
15:3415 minutes, 34 secondsLook, we've now been at this war of choice of Trump's choice for more a month and a half. Thousands are dead,
15:4115 minutes, 41 secondsgrieving, wounded, suffering. Only someone as inept and unfit, someone as callous and cruel as Trump would see
15:5015 minutes, 50 secondsthis as winning. Only a draft dodging coward would think that this is the right way to engage in a war. Only a man
15:5815 minutes, 58 secondsso unqualified to be commander-in-chief would be proud to keep on risking our heroes lives without even a concept of a
16:0616 minutes, 6 secondsplan for how to get them back home without risking more graves at Arlington.
16:1416 minutes, 14 secondsWe can't let this chaos continue unchecked. As our troops continue to sacrifice whatever is asked of them, we
16:2116 minutes, 21 secondssenators we senators need to do the absolute minimum required of us. That's why this week I'm calling up my war
16:2816 minutes, 28 secondspowers resolution demanding that the Trump administration finally end this illegal war and to call for some actual
16:3616 minutes, 36 secondspublic oversight and accountability on behalf of the American people. It'll come to the floor for a vote shortly. So to my Republican colleagues, you have a
16:4416 minutes, 44 secondschoice, a simple one really. You can vote with me to end this conflict and show that you actually care about putting America first like you claim. Or you can vote to put Trump's ego first,
16:5616 minutes, 56 secondsproving that when push comes to shove,
16:5816 minutes, 58 secondsyou care more about protecting Trump's thin skin than the Constitution that you swore to defend. At this point, it's
17:0617 minutes, 6 secondspretty clear Donald J. Trump will always be more interested in looking out for his own self-interest rather than truly serving American interests.
17:1617 minutes, 16 secondsSo my question is if any of my Republican colleagues are actually brave enough to stand up and
17:2317 minutes, 23 secondstell Donald J. Trump, the fivetime draft dodging coward, enough. Thank you.
