Imagine, ladies and gentlemen, a Democrat so ignorant that a partisan hack working for one of most partisan news networks in America is forced to publicly scold him and defend the president that they both hate so dear.
No need to imagine, because this exact scenario transpired Sunday on CNN, when notoriously left-wing CNN host Dana Bash tried to interview Democratic Maine Senate nominee Troy Jackson about the state of affairs overseas.
The discussion specifically centered around Jackson’s not-so-well-thought-out thesis that America should just pull out of Iran and call it a day.
Even Bash had doubts about this dubious narrative, and for good reason.
WATCH: A horrified Dana Bash has to educate Dem MESEN nominee Troy Jackson on Iran and prewar oil prices https://t.co/1IkhQDaXbN
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 18, 2026
“What would that mean for the Strait of Hormuz, which is still, or would be, certainly controlled by Iran if that happened, which would continue to keep the oil prices high?” Bash asked Jackson.
Which is a bigger problem: people running for office who are ignorant about key issues, or members of the media who cover up for them?
People running for office who are ignorant about key issues
6% (3 votes)
Members of the media who (usually) cover up for them
6% (3 votes)
Both – these guys are the real threat to democracy
88% (44 votes)
Neither is really a big problem
0% (0 votes)
From the beginning, he demonstrated that he was totally unequipped for a serious, adult discussion about the war in Iran.
“Well, Iran controlled it before, and the oil prices weren’t anywhere near …” Jackson began replying before being fact-checked by Bash.
“They didn’t [control the Strait],” she rightly noted. “It was open.”
Correct. In fact, Democrats tend to use the fact that it was open as a talking point against President Donald Trump, though Jackson evidently never got the memo:
Before Trump’s war of choice with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz was open. Now it’s closed, your gas prices are climbing, and the president still cannot explain how any of this makes America safer.
— Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) April 15, 2026
Undeterred by being shamed and humiliated on the national and international stage, Jackson continued with his tour of ignorance.
“Well, Iran had the ability to do what they did before we started bombing them, and things were fine,” he alleged. “I’m sure that if we move out of Iran, things will stabilize and prices will probably go down.”
Bash was left in utter disbelief.
“You think if the United States just leaves, Iran will say, OK, fine, we’re going to pull out of the Strait of Hormuz?” she asked with the patience of a schoolteacher speaking to an exceptionally slow child.
“Well, it’s a lot better than what we’re doing right now,” Jackson replied. “And I definitely think that we need to make sure that we protect our troops getting out of there in a manner that they’re safe.”
“But yeah, I do. I think we need to get out of that war, and hopefully prices will stabilize,” he continued. “I mean, they rose because we got into it.”
This time Bash initially cut him some slack by admitting “the situation is challenging” before digging the knife even deeper.
“But now we are where we are, and there are blockades, and other ways that the U.S. being there is at least letting some ships through,” she noted. “And if the U.S. leaves, why would Iran just pull up stakes and say, OK, fine, we’ll leave it open?”
It was a great question — one for which Jackson had nothing but tired ol’ Democratic talking points to throw at.
“I’m sure we can negotiate something that has us leave the Strait of Hormuz without losing any more ships, going back to a situation where we used to be,” he said. “I mean, President Obama negotiated a deal where they weren’t enriching uranium. We didn’t have these issues.”
“Donald Trump tore it up, and now we’re in the mess that we’re in, because he wanted to play war games,” he continued, concluding his remarks. “I’m sure there’s a way that we can negotiate with them to get back some semblance of what it was before this and get oil prices stabilized.”
Had the discussion continued after this final remark, Bash might have made it a point to note that negotiating with terrorists never works. However, as dumb and ignorant as Jackson appears to be, I’m sure the point would have flown right over his head.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s thinking on Iran is so flawed that The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board penned a whole column debunking it:
Take Hormuz—please! With apologies to Henny Youngman, that appears to be an emerging Democratic message on Iran.
https://t.co/wChFYRtw8m— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) October 16, 2026
In the column, the board slammed Jackson’s call for a quick end to the war, arguing that it’d mean allowing Iran to charge “terror tolls” on vital international oil shipping lanes. This would, in turn, allow Iran to fund its activities, including terrorism, and also increase the risks faced by U.S. troops and their allies in the region.
But again, all of this is likely to just fly over poor ol’ Troy Jackson’s head.
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