Prominent Democrats weighing presidential runs forcefully condemned President Trump’s decision to go to war in Iran as they gathered this week at a convention in New York, arguing that he had failed to get the buy-in of the American public for a military campaign that has driven up costs.
Opposition to the war is emerging as a rallying point for the Democrats, who expressed alarm at recent apocalyptic threats Mr. Trump directed at Iran and the spike in inflation driven by the conflict. Several speakers, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, described the conflict with a phrase that members of both parties have used when denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it a “war of choice.”
A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, rejected the criticism, saying in a statement that Mr. Trump had taken “courageous action,” and that Democrats had “spent decades talking about the threat posed by Iran, but doing nothing about it.”
Here’s what a number of the possible Democratic presidential candidates had to say at the gathering, hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s group, the National Action Network.
Kamala Harris
Ms. Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, said she was “unequivocally opposed to this war of choice.” She argued that Mr. Trump was the first American president since World War II who did not seek to uphold international rules and norms.
“While he struts around boasting about how he will annihilate a whole people, what he is in fact doing — and this is why it’s important to watch he does and not just listen to what he says — what is he doing is making us weaker, unreliable and less influential,” Ms. Harris said.
Regarding Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign vow to curtail rising prices, Ms. Harris leveled a blunt accusation: “He lied.”
Pete Buttigieg
Mr. Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, said Americans were “paying directly” for the war and getting nothing in return.
“You do not put American troops’ lives on the line unless you have no other good alternative,” said Mr. Buttigieg, a former Navy intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan. “Well, look at what they did. We’re not in this war because we had to be. We’re in this war because he wanted to be — after specifically promising not to launch these kinds of wars.”
The war has touched Americans at home in the “most immediate, personal ways,” Mr. Buttigieg argued. “If you want a house, your mortgage went up, because interests went up, because of this war,” he said. “Every time you fill up your tank of gas got more expensive. Because of this war.”
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland
Mr. Moore, an Army veteran, also drew on his service in Afghanistan, saying he was concerned that the United States was “walking into the same trap.”
“The biggest challenge for me, though, is the lack of conversation that’s happening with the American people,” Mr. Moore said. “These are our taxpayer dollars that are being used to do this. This is — you know, we are now watching how our gas prices continue to skyrocket, energy prices continue to skyrocket, groceries are more expensive, and we are doing this foreign war that none of us asked for but is being done in our name.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
Speaking to reporters at the convention, Mr. Shapiro ridiculed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying that he was in over his head.
“He’s like an 8-year-old playing with toy soldiers,” Mr. Shapiro said. “This guy is so unqualified to serve as the secretary of defense. Yet that’s who is in charge, doing whatever the hell the president tells him to do. And that’s really dangerous.”
A Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell, responded in a statement saying, “Unlike Josh Shapiro, Secretary Hegseth has been deployed to defend our country abroad and understands the reality of combat operations.”
Onstage with Mr. Sharpton, Mr. Shapiro said Mr. Trump had started a “war of choice.”
“The president never came to the American people and said, ‘This is our objective’ or ‘These are our objectives,’” Mr. Shapiro said. “And if you don’t know why you went in, you sure as heck don’t know when it’s time to come out, or how to get out.”
Representative Ro Khanna of California
Mr. Khanna, a progressive Democrat, stood out at the conference by calling for the removal of Mr. Trump from office, echoing a recent call from a group of congressional Democrats.
“We need more moral clarity in our party and conviction in our party. I called for the 25th Amendment and impeachment when Donald Trump threatened genocide of the Iranian people,” Mr. Khanna told Mr. Sharpton, referring to Mr. Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilization on Tuesday.
“And I’m tired of people saying: Well, do we have the votes? What does the polling say? What do the swing voters think? What are the tactics?” Mr. Khanna added. “How about: A president of the United States should not threaten genocide for a civilization.”
