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Romney: ‘It’s Time For Us To Cut Back On’ Firemen, Policemen, Teachers (Video)

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Mitt Romney, forever out of touch with the “real America,” today in Council Bluffs, Iowa told farmers that “It’s time for us to cut back on” firemen, policemen, and teachers.

READ: Mitt Romney, After Three Attempts, Finally Learns How To Spell

Via CNN:

Mitt Romney berated Barack Obama as “so far from reality” after the president said the private sector is “doing fine” during a press conference Friday.

“He said the private sector is doing fine. Is he really that out of touch? I think he is defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people,” Romney said in Council Bluffs, Iowa after a roundtable discussion with farmers.

In his opening remarks in the White House briefing room, Obama addressed the economic crisis in Europe and offered his assessment of the state of the economy in the United States during a question and answer session with reporters.

“The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last two, 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector’s doing fine,” Obama said. “Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government, oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don’t have the same flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.”

The Republican presidential candidate criticized his 2012 competitor for “pushing aside the private sector” and instead wants to add more government jobs. He cited the recent gubernatorial recall vote in Wisconsin as a sign voters want the opposite.

Romney said of Obama, “he wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more fireman, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Greg Sargent at The Washington Post notes:

When Republicans attack public workers, they often take care to exempt cops and firefighters, because they are culturally sympathetic figures, and muddle the message that government workers are parasites who are destroying the economic conditions of ordinary Americans.

But today Mitt Romney got a good deal more specific, claiming we do not need to hire more cops or firefighters specifically, which would, he said, cut against the interests of the American people. He also specificallly named teachers.

…

It’s hard to argue that the message from Wisconsin was that Americans don’t think we should hire more firefighters and cops. They were exempted from Scott Walker’s crackdown on public employee bargaining rights, which enabled him to “divide and conquer” labor.

But beyond that, this could resonate in the presidential race: It will allow the White House to reframe the debate over public sector workers and job creation on more favorable terms.

…

Or, to put it another way: #WedgeFail!

…

The Obama campaign responds:

In Iowa today, Mitt Romney shockingly promised to cut jobs for firefighters, police, and teachers if elected. As President Obama urges Congress to pass his plan to put cops, firefighters, teachers, and construction workers back to work — after they left as many as 1 million jobs from his plan on the table — Mitt Romney has decided we need less jobs for middle class Americans, not more. That’s the message he received this week.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LoSmWK_-x4g%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

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White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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March 10, 2026

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended what she claimed is President Donald Trump‘s right to share his opinion that Iran has U.S. Tomahawk missiles, a major weapon currently only in the possession of the United States, Australia, and the U.K.

On Monday, President Trump said Iran had U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles when asked if the United States would accept responsibility for the killing of at least 165 people at an Iranian girls’ school.

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump said, Newsweek reported. He also claimed that the missile is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”

Newsweek noted that when pressed on why he appeared to be the only one making that claim, Trump said, “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

He added that he was “willing to live with” the findings of any official investigation.

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“There has never been an indication that Iran has any Tomahawks,” CNN reported, “which are made by US defense manufacturer Raytheon for the US military, subject to strict export controls and not the ‘generic’ product Trump claimed Monday.”

On Tuesday, Leavitt chastised a reporter who asked about the president’s apparently erroneous claim.

“The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public,” she said, “but he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation, and, frankly, we’re not going to be harassed by the New York Times, who’s been putting out a lot of articles on this, making claims that have just not been verified by the Department of War to quickly wrap up this investigation, because the New York Times is calling on us to do so.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor, mockingly responded, “Stop pointing out that the president has no idea what he’s talking about.”

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

 

Image via Reuters

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Democrats Warn Trump on Path to Put US Troops on the Ground

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9 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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President Donald Trump‘s claim that his war against Iran may soon be coming to an end is being rejected by Senate Democrats, who warn that the administration may be on a path to putting boots on the ground in a “forever war.”

After attending a bipartisan briefing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters, “I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.”

“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground, in Iran,” he said, warning about “potentially huge consequences to American lives.”

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) also expressed grave doubts.

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

“What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing,” said Senator Rosen, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, as CNBC reported. “I’m not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are.”

She said that if President Trump “does want to put us in a forever war — which it seems like he does — he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.”

CNBC reported that the “concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.”

Democrats are warning that there is no end in sight, CNBC noted, and reported that the “war dragging on could also see markets whip back and oil costs continue to soar, especially as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil remains largely impassible.”

After the Senate briefing, CBS News reported that “U.S. intelligence assets have begun to see indications Iran is taking steps to deploy mines in Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

 

 

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‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

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12 hours ago

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March 10, 2026

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible — specifically the Old Testament — on Tuesday during remarks on the progress of the war against Iran, leaving some to express concerns about Christian nationalism and his potentially executing a holy or religious war.

Noting that he had just returned from Dover Air Force Base to accept the dignified transfer of another service member killed in the Iran war, Hegseth said, “I’ll close with Scripture, drawing strength from Psalm 144.”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”

Critics slammed his introduction of the religious text.

At The New Republic, Malcolm Ferguson wrote: “The Christian nationalist undertones of this war are getting even more obvious.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“Listening to Hegseth read Psalm 144 feels like an ominous justification for further aggression rather than a comforting message,” Ferguson said.

“While it’s a lovely verse traditionally attributed to King David, it does not accurately portray the reality of the situation whatsoever,” he wrote. “The United States is the Goliath of this story, along with Israel. The countries’ joint attacks of aggression have killed over 1,200 Iranians, many of them young schoolgirls. Iranian fuel depots were hit so hard that oil rained from the sky in Tehran on Sunday. Seven American service members have died because a president who promised peace sent them to war for money and regime change, not liberation.”

Professor of public policy Josh Cowen responded to Secretary Hegseth’s reading of scripture: “He could have chosen Jesus’s words ‘Blessed are they who mourn’ or if he was really craving a psalm, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'”

“Instead he’s sporting militant quotes not to assuage grief but to justify his actions that caused it,” Cowen said.

Dutch journalist Michael van der Galien, according to a translation on X, called it “concerning that Pete Hegseth uses a passage from the Old Testament to suggest that God would bless a specific war between America, Israel, and Iran.”

“From a Catholic perspective, war is always a tragedy and only justified under strict conditions of just war theory, such as self-defense and the protection of innocents, not as a divine mandate.”

Professor Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian, according to a translation on X, wrote of Hegseth’s Scripture quoting, “they’ll do absolutely anything to make it look like a religious war.”

READ MORE: Cracks Widen as Trump Presses GOP on Hardline Voter ID Plan

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