President Donald Trump has gone from threatening war against Iran to threatening to commit war crimes against Iran, and that did not escape the attention of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Calif.), who took him to the woodshed for it on Sunday morning.

During a new set of threats Trump tweeted out on Saturday, he warned Iran against retaliating over the killing of General Qasem Suleimani, whom Trump ordered assassinated on Thursday night.

Trump specifically claimed that 52 targets of attack have been identified, including cultural and non-military sites that would no doubt be full of civilians.

This is a threat to commit war crimes, as Ocasio-Cortez would point out in response.

Ocasio-Cortez is right. It’s a violation of international law to target cultural sites. And killing innocent families, women and children makes it clear how Trump really feels about the Iranian people. He doesn’t really support them if he’s willing to slaughter them. This threat will likely backfire by causing the Iranian people to harden their support for their government and could inflame the Muslim world as a whole because the destruction of cultural sites is an attack on the Islamic faith itself. Even our allies, who are already not supportive of a war in Iran, could further abandon us over this threat.

In fact, Trump’s new threats could even result in him losing some Republican support here at home as his impeachment trial continues to loom, according to journalist Lynn Sweet during an interview on CNN.

“I’ve heard your past few segments talk about that these 52 targets Trump is talking about striking include cultural sites in Iran,” Sweet said. “That is, and I want to emphasize what your previous guests have said, that’s a war crime.”

“Here’s how this works with impeachment,” she continued. “The next step is for the Senate to decide if they’re going to hear witnesses. They only need four Republican senators to say yes on that one to get witnesses. So even though Trump is not charged with anything having to do with this attack that he led that is now so much of a controversy with Democrats, it could give pause to his judgment. It certainly could do that. It is a way to have Republicans react and say maybe we do need to at least have witnesses to try and be thorough in dealing with this president because once he goes down the path of even threatening to bomb significant religious cultural targets, whatever that really means, we’ll see if he spells it out, then you’re going down the path that will certainly bring whatever allies we have left in the world that could give pause to the president through impeachment.”

Here’s the video via YouTube:

So, not only is there an international backlash, there could very well be a backlash from Republicans. They know full well that committing war crimes against the Iranian people would draw swift condemnation from our enemies and allies alike, therefore weakening what’s left of our influence around the globe.

It’s time for Republicans to act more like Ocasio-Cortez and start standing up to Trump. Because one day, another Republican will be in the White House, only they won’t be able to have a foreign policy because of what Trump has done to our international reputation.

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