Earlier this week, headliners such as Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and numerous Republican congressman spoke at a rally on Capitol Hill aimed at rallying congressional opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran. These are some of the stand-out moments from the three-hour event.
1 . When Donald Trump assured the crowd that Iran is terrified of him
After entering to R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” (which R.E.M., it turns out, did not appreciate), Trump wasted no time in simultaneously bashing the Obama administration and extolling the merits of his own negotiating power.
“I’ve been doing deals for a long time,” he said. “I’ve been making lots of wonderful deals, great deals, that’s what I do. Never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran. Never.”
Trump is so confident in his deal-making skills that he believes if he is elected president Iran will bend to his will before he even takes office. Trump asserted that the four Americans currently held hostage by the Iranian government “are never going to come back with this group,” referring to the Obama administration and members of Congress who support the nuclear deal with Iran. However, according to Trump, “those four prisoners are back in our country before he ever takes office,” simply because Iranian leaders will be too scared of Trump to defy him.
2 . When Sarah Palin didn’t make any sense
As Sarah Palin took to the podium, she thanked the crowd for showing up in the D.C. heat to help “bring sanity to this discussion.” She didn’t exactly lead by example.
“Only in an Orwellian Obama world full of sprinkly fairy dust blown from atop his unicorn as he’s peeking through a really pretty pink kaleidoscope would he ever see victory or safety for America or Israel in this treaty,” the former GOP vice presidential nominee said.
3 . When Sarah Palin referred to Black Lives Matter protestors as Obama’s “dogs”
In between lauding the crowd and criticizing the Iran Deal, Palin took a minute to thank American police officers. However, her delivery of this message was careless and offensive.
“Since our president won’t say it, since he still won’t call of the dogs, we’ll say it: Police officers and first responders all across this great land, we got you’re back! We salute you!”
Palin, who has a history of racially insensitive remarks, seems oblivious to the implications of referring to Black Lives Matter protestors as Obama’s animals, especially at a rally that was already displaying hostility towards the movement.
His father and sister were also wearing these shirts at the rally against the Iran deal pic.twitter.com/nZfLMjzA5R
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 9, 2015
Best sign at the anti iran deal rally pic.twitter.com/wv6LZk6neG
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) September 9, 2015
4 . When the audience supported Donald Trump’s sexism
When Donald Trump took the stage, an audience member raised this homemade poster of Rosie O’Donnell’s face.
At the first Republican presidential primary debate in August, moderator Megyn Kelly had remarked that Trump did not seem to have a “politician’s filter,” especially when it came to comments about women. Trump responded by saying he only had referred to Rosie O’Donnell as “ fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” His words were met with laughter and applause at the August debate, so it is no surprise that the poster was met with laughter and jeers by nearby crowd members.
5 . When the audience believed that Obama hates America
It is no surprise that the protestors at this rally believe that Obama supports the nuclear deal because he wants to aid Iran and destroy America, since many of the speakers that they came to see preach this on a regular basis. Rep. Louie Gohmert has expressed his beliefs that progressives and radical Muslims are working together to destroy America and that Obama has connections with Islamic states, Mark Levin has claimed that Obama is more Muslim than Christian , and Glenn Beck has repeatedly said on his radio show that Obama is planning a military takeover of the United States.
Here are some of the signs that rally-goers held.
