Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to the woodshed on Wednesday for questioning his patriotism over his criticism of President Donald Trump’s military strike against Iran.

Trump’s push for war with Iran has divided Senate Republicans, drawing particular backlash from Paul and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who strongly condemned the administration after a disastrous briefing in which Trump officials claimed that Congress can’t debate such actions that Trump orders.

“It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government to come in to tell us that we can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran,” Lee said. “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.”

Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Suleimani last week without consulting or informing Congress as required by the War Powers Act, resulting in the introduction of a resolution that would restrict Trump’s war powers to prevent him from dragging the United States into a catastrophic conflict with Iran.

Graham, of course, is a Trump toady who has desired war with Iran for years. And he once again kissed Trump’s a** by attacking Paul and Lee for standing against his unconstitutional push for war, even going so far as to question their patriotism.

“I think they’re overreacting,” Graham said. “I’m going to let people know … to play this game with the War Powers Act, which I believe is unconstitutional, is that whether you mean to or not, you’re empowering the enemy.”

This did not sit well at all with Paul, who thoroughly responded to Graham during an interview on CNN.

“I think it’s sad when people have this fake sort of drape of patriotism and anybody that disagrees with them is not a patriot,” Paul said. “I love my country. I have many family members that serve in the military and continue to serve. I love my country as much as the next guy. For him to insult and say we’re not as patriotic as he is — he hasn’t read the Constitution. He insults the Constitution, our founding fathers, and what we do stand for in this republic by making light of it and accusing people of lacking patriotism. I think that’s a low, gutter type of response.”

“To me, this is much bigger than the Trump administration,” Paul continued. “This question we have about who has the war-making power, this goes back to Truman in 1950. We fought war after war, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, without having them authorized by Congress. It’s been a tug-of-war. Many people have written that Congress and senators have abdicated their role in declaring war. That’s true. What Senator Lee and I are doing is standing up and saying the power resides in Congress and we’re going to fight for it.”

Here’s the video via YouTube:

Only Congress has the power to declare war, yet Trump is abusing his power yet again by escalating tensions with Iran and claiming that Congress has no right to exercise oversight over military decisions and orders he makes. Such behavior is tyrannical, and Paul and Lee should be applauded for finally standing up to Trump.

Featured Image: YouTube screenshot