Booker says – Sen. Cory Booker said Iran believes President Donald Trump is “the biggest loser with egg on his face” after Trump signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran last week, arguing the deal gives Tehran major benefits while Americans carry the costs.
When Sen. Cory Booker stepped onto “Meet the Press” on Sunday, his frustration wasn’t subtle. He said Iran is treating the United States like someone who has lost—publicly—after President Donald Trump signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran last week.
Booker. a Democrat from New Jersey. was asked by host Garrett Haake whether Trump deserves “any credit for trying to end this war now rather than escalate it further.” Booker responded with a blunt analogy. saying: “That’s like … literally an arsonist starting a fire and getting credit for running out of the burning building.”.
He then widened his critique into a charge that he believes goes to the heart of U.S. credibility. “This president has led this nation into a disaster,” Booker said. “We have surrendered our power. We have capitulated to the enemy. And they now are mocking us.”
Booker said his reading of the moment isn’t based on statements alone. He pointed to what he described as Iran’s internal dialogue as well as what he said Iran is saying publicly. “Look at everything that’s coming out of [Iran] from their internal dialogue all the way to what they’re saying publicly. ” he said.
Booker alleged Iran understands that it has “won this. ” and that. on the world stage. Trump is humiliated by the outcome. “And they know Donald Trump is perhaps. on the world stage right now. the biggest loser with egg on his face. ” he said. “We need to curtail this chaotic, corrupt and cruel president. We need to have checks and balances on his power.”.
Haake pressed Booker on whether he supports Trump’s memorandum. Booker said. “Yeah. I’m proud to be leading the effort to stop Donald Trump from leading our country into further and further disaster.” He also tied his view of the memorandum to a broader judgment about leadership. “But the way he is trying to bring us out of this war not only speaks to the failures of the war in total. but it also speaks in a bipartisan way to how bad of a leader he is. ” Booker said. “When you have Democrats and Republicans. conservatives and progressives. all coming out talking about capitulation. surrender. catastrophe. you know how bad this deal is.”.
Booker also blamed Congressional Republicans for what he described as the limits of oversight and accountability. “Booker called out the Congressional Republicans that he says allowed Trump to do ‘everything he wanted to do. ’” he said. adding: “And now they’re crying foul because they don’t like the result. Shame on Congress. It’s time we get a Congress that will stand up to this president.”.
The conversation turned sharper after Haake played a clip of Democratic strategist James Carville arguing that Americans should “give Trump credit where credit is due” for the situation in Iran. In the clip. Carville said: “He did what Lyndon Johnson did not do in Vietnam. just get out.” Carville also added: “I think the best thing Biden ever did was just leave Afghanistan. And I’ll give Trump credit. He saw this thing was going the wrong way. And he just quit and got out. And sometimes you got to do that.”.
Booker’s rebuttal came with a familiar central theme: he said Trump’s approach gives Iran meaningful gains while the United States pays the price. He accused Trump of letting Iran get “all of the benefits” and “literally billions and billions of dollars” in the deal while “Americans suffer financially.”.
“And America continues to hurt and see the losses from the $100 billion we’ve spent in the war to every American citizen seeing their costs skyrocket,” Booker said. “This has been a cataclysmic failure of his making.”
He called Trump’s deal an “abject surrender. ” arguing that the structure of the agreement appears to invert who benefits and who bears costs. “This is a guy who said he’s a great negotiator. But right now, Iran has billions and billions of dollars of benefits,” Booker said. “It’s almost as if American dollars. American resources are now going to be used to help rebuild Iran while we are continuing to carry the bill for it.”.
Booker also said the United States is left with fewer options as the confrontation continues. Later in the interview, he described Trump’s position as a “disaster for a commander in chief” and said Trump is “leaving us with less and less good choices.”
What he said he hears from allies was part of his warning. “What the world needs now is leadership,” Booker said. “But from our Middle East allies to our NATO allies, I’m hearing over and over again, ‘Your president is a danger to the world.’ And obviously we at home are paying the cost of that.”
The remarks came after a separate clash between Booker and Trump about the Iran conflict. During a May 2026 appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union. ” Booker said the president is “being played as a fool” in the conflict. And on Sunday. Haake noted that Booker voted eight times to end this war as he asked whether he supports the memorandum.
Booker’s message was consistent: for him, the decision to sign the memorandum isn’t a step toward responsible de-escalation—it’s evidence, in his view, of surrender that has left the United States weaker and more exposed.
Cory Booker Donald Trump Iran Memorandum of Understanding Meet the Press Garrett Haake U.S. Congress war in Iran NATO allies de-escalation Iran deal
So Iran is laughing now… love that for us 🙄
I didn’t even know there was an MOU and now everyone’s acting like it’s some huge surrender. Booker sounds mad but like… doesn’t Trump always talk big then it turns into a mess?
The arsonist analogy is kinda wild lol. But also who cares what Iran “thinks” in their internal dialogue, they just want what they want. I mean maybe Trump did try to end it, but the whole egg on his face line feels exaggerated.
This is why I don’t trust any of these deals. If Iran is mocking us then that means the MOU is basically a gift, right? And Booker says we’re carrying the costs like it’s all on Americans but I swear I heard the opposite somewhere else, like that it was “peace” or whatever. Either way, it seems like everyone looks humiliated and that’s gonna cause more problems anyway.