Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) was accused Wednesday of deploying Orwellian logic while defending Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran.
“Here’s why we went into Iran. We had no choice. The president didn’t start a war; he was trying to stop a war,” Kennedy told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
Kennedy also repeated Trump’s unverified claim that Iran was rapidly building up its missile stockpile and posed a growing threat to America, and insisted Tehran was solely responsible for the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes.
“Iran shut it, we didn’t! We’re not to blame,” he said.
The remarks prompted swift backlash, with critics likening his argument to the kind of warped logic deployed by the authoritarian regime in George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
“War is peace,” wrote one critic on X, a reference to the paradoxical party slogan in the book.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,” another added.