I am a former Republican congressman from Illinois. For years I have watched Susan Collins preen and posture as a moderate. I have watched her clutch her pearls and wring her hands. Now she is launching a campaign for a sixth term in the Senate while American bombs fall on Iran. That announcement came today, on October 29, 2026. She calls herself independent. She calls herself a check on power yet I call her an enabler.
I call her a coward. I call her complicit in Trump’s illegal war on Iran, which has killed at least twenty-one American service members and wounded eight hundred sixty-five more. This is not a close call for me. This is a moral line. Susan Collins crossed it a long time ago.
She Cheered the War Before She Pretended to Oppose It
Never forget what she said in the early days of this catastrophe. Susan Collins supported Trump’s illegal war on Iran from the very start. She cited nuclear proliferation and regional security as her excuses. No congressional authorization did she demand then. Nor did she invoke the War Powers Act then. Standing on the Senate floor, she did not call the war what it is: an unconstitutional act of aggression by a president who believes he is a king.
Instead, she cheered. She said she hoped the operation would be “brief and successful”. That is a direct quote from March 13, delivered after a KC-135 crash killed six airmen. In a war never declared, she hoped for success. Success in a war Congress never authorized was her wish. That war has killed thousands across the region and closed the Strait of Hormuz. She hoped for success in it anyway. I have heard enough. My eyes have seen enough too. Her later hand-wringing does not erase her original sin.
Her Conversion Came Only When the Politics Turned Sour
Never mistake her late-breaking war powers votes for courage. Never mistake her “voted nine times to end this war” talking point for principle. The New York Times reported plainly that Collins “had opposed similar war powers measures” before she “flipped her position”. She flipped only after Trump’s illegal war on Iran became deeply unpopular.
She flipped only after her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, started hammering her in debates. PolitiFact examined her claim and found it misleading, calling it “selective counting” and pointing to five times she voted against such resolutions. That is not leadership. That is survival. I do not care what she says now. I care what she did then. What she did then was shameful.
She Ignored the Most Obvious Warning in the Region
Never let her pretend she did not know. Blindsided by the Strait of Hormuz closure? She claims that now. As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she knew the Strait could be closed. It would cripple global shipping, and she knew that. Trump’s illegal war on Iran would spike energy prices, she warned. She said so herself in March, noting Iran had “control over the Strait of Hormuz”. Twenty percent of the world’s oil travels through that waterway. Those questions came from her own mouth. Now she tells Maine voters that Trump “did not have a good plan” on Iran.
No kidding, Senator. No kidding. The war has cost the U.S. military $47.1 billion as of October 16, an estimate that excludes damage to U.S. bases. The Pentagon has expended roughly 65 percent of its Patriot missile interceptor stockpiles. She supported the war anyway. She gave this president her vote and her voice. And now she wants credit for noticing the wreckage she helped create. I will not give her that credit. Neither should any voter in Maine.
Follow the Money and You Will Find the Real Motive
Never let her pretend she did not know. Blindsided by the Strait of Hormuz closure? She claims that now. She sits as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Strait could be closed, and she knew it. She knew it would cripple global shipping. Energy prices would spike, she knew, because of Trump’s illegal war on Iran. She said so herself in March, warning that Iran had “control over the Strait of Hormuz”.
Twenty percent of the world’s oil travels through that waterway. Those questions came from her own mouth. Now she tells Maine voters that Trump “did not have a good plan” on Iran. Really, Senator. No kidding. The war has cost the U.S. military $47.1 billion as of October 16. That estimate excludes damage to U.S. bases. Roughly 65 percent of its Patriot missile interceptor stockpiles are gone, per the Pentagon. She supported the war anyway. Vote and voice she gave this president. And now she wants credit for noticing the wreckage she helped create. I will not give her that credit. Neither should any voter in Maine
The Only Apology That Matters Is the One She Owes to Every Dead Soldier
Never forget the human cost of her choices. Six airmen died in that KC-135 crash during Operation Epic Fury in western Iraq. Never forget that Collins told reporters she was “happy that none of them were from the state of Maine”. As if that made it better. Geography does not lessen the moral weight of her complicity. Twenty-one American service members are dead. Eight hundred sixty-five have been wounded. She has been in the Senate for nearly thirty years. Chair of the Appropriations Committee, she has been. She had real power. Trump’s illegal war on Iran could have been stopped by her.
She chose not to stop it. Enabling it was her choice. She chose to protect her position. Now she trails Troy Jackson by two points in the latest Marist poll, forty-nine to forty-seven. Independents are breaking for Jackson fifty to forty-one. Another six years is what she wants now. I have a simple message for the people of Maine. Do not give them to her. Send her home. A message must be sent that complicity is disqualifying. Send a message that illegal wars have consequences for the people who cheer them on. Susan Collins cheered this war on. Now she should face the consequences.