The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been labeled by the United States government as a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
The designation was first given by the Trump administration in 2019, and that designation stood under the Biden administration (even though he was constantly pressured to change it). The IRGC is responsible for an overwhelming number of recent US military casualties in Iraq.
On September 29, 2026, the IRGC published an open letter in both English and Farsi. It was pure propaganda, encouraging US voters to reject Trump-aligned Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
Now let’s go back to the 2016 election, when it was determined that Russian operatives were trying to influence the election to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Democrats, liberals, and the media cried for four years about him being an illegitimate president.
Trump was investigated. Committees were formed. Books were written.
Trump was called Putin’s puppet, among other things. But the outrage was immediate and continues to this day. And much of that outrage started within hours of the news breaking.
Yet, we fast-forward to the open letter from the IRGC, which, by any definition used, is foreign influence in an American election, and Democrats have not said a word, with more than 24 hours already on the clock.
Hillary Clinton. Nothing. Adam Schiff. Nothing. Nancy Pelosi. Nothing. No op-eds in the New York Times. No appearances on Fox News. No big press conference at the Capitol. Literally nothing.
The letter, released by IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi at a press conference in Tehran on September 29, was a direct attack against Trump. He clearly studied all the Democrat talking points on the president, saying, among other things:
“[Trump is] not only an inveterate liar but... an insanely avaricious man whose only motivation in life is the accumulation of greater wealth."
The letter targeted the people who despise Trump the most: young Americans, academics, and journalists. This was propaganda, not diplomacy.
It chose this audience very carefully because these are the people it knows it can persuade to rally against Trump and his supporters who are running for office around the country.
The letter claimed that the American economy is on the “precipice of collapse” and that people needed to “wake up.” And, of course, it rips Trump over his Iran policy. Only yesterday I published a Substack discussing how a divided front by MAGA Republicans would create problems, and here we are, with a terrorist nation among the first to take advantage of Trump-backed candidates demanding Trump end the Iran war now.
The IRGC stuck its nose in the 2024 election, but there is a really good chance you never heard about it because it benefited Kamala Harris and the Democrat Party.
Our intelligence agencies confirmed that Iran had hacked the Trump campaign, as well as attempting to hack the Biden-Harris campaign. It then reportedly attempted to pass the information it gained to contacts for the Harris campaign. The Harris campaign, of course, denied using the information.
This was barely a blip on the radar screen in terms of media coverage, and it was out of the news cycle nearly as quickly as it arrived. No books were written about it. No congressional committees were formed tying Harris to the Iranians. Nobody called Harris a “puppet” for Iran. And it surely was not framed as an attack on our democracy.
If we look at the two situations side-by-side, you can clearly see the double standard that was applied by the media and Democrats…
| Democrat | What They Said About Russian Interference (2016-2020) | Response Time Then | What They Are Saying About IRGC Letter (2026) | Silence Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary Clinton | "This is not just an attack on me and my campaign... This is an attack against our country. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation." Called Russian interference "a clear and present danger to Western democracy." Called Putin leader of "an authoritarian, white-supremacist and xenophobic movement." Called Trump Putin's "puppet" from national debate stage. | Same day / next day, then continuously across four years | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Nancy Pelosi | "An assault on our democracy is an assault on our country." "Trump sold out our democracy" at Helsinki. "The President gave a green light to continue to attack our democracy to the Russians." "All roads lead to Putin." | Same day, sustained across Trump's entire first term | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Adam Schiff | Called Russian interference an "unprecedented attack on our democracy." "The story of the 2016 election is really a story of disloyalty to country, about greed and about lies." "I do feel our democracy is under threat." | Immediate and sustained across 2017-2020 | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Sen. Jack Reed | "Our elections should be decided by American citizens, not foreign hackers, heads of state, or their propagandists." "This was an attack on all Americans because it undermines our democracy." | Same day as January 2017 declassified intelligence report | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Joe Biden | Multiple public statements throughout Trump's first term condemning Russian interference. Campaigned on protecting American elections from foreign influence. As president, called Russian interference "a threat to our democracy." | Sustained across four years | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Chuck Schumer | Multiple public statements condemning Russian interference. Demanded investigations, security briefings, and consequences. Called foreign interference an ongoing threat requiring bipartisan response. | Same day and sustained | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Democratic National Committee | 2016-2020 extensive fundraising and messaging on Russian election interference. Filed lawsuits. Ran nationwide messaging campaigns on foreign interference threats to democracy. | Same-day and sustained for four years | No public statement | 24+ hours and counting |
| Mainstream Media (Aggregate) | 24/7 saturation coverage cycle from October 2016 through 2020. Front-page treatment, editorial condemnation, dedicated network correspondents, book deals, documentaries. | Immediate saturation | Sporadic wire-service coverage. Framed as "diplomatic appeal" or "unusual overture." No editorial outrage. No calls for investigation. | 24+ hours and counting |
| Every Democrat named above responded to Russian election interference within hours of news breaking, then continued speaking about it for four straight years. All eight sources have been silent since the IRGC — a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization — published a 25-page open letter urging American voters to reject Trump-linked Republicans in the November 3 midterms. The "silence duration" column will only grow with time. Every hour that passes without a statement makes this table's prosecution stronger. Foreign election interference is either wrong or it is not. There is no third option — unless the response depends on which party benefits.
Sources: CBS News; Fox News; Pelosi.house.gov official press releases; Schiff official House Intelligence Committee statements; Reed Senate office (January 2017); Brookings Institution; Al Jazeera; Reuters; JFeed; U.S. Department of State FTO designation records. |
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You can verify the timing and accuracy of every one of those quotes. But here we are, more than 24 hours after the IRGC tried to influence our elections for Democrats, and in most cases, the story is already buried. Not only that, but Democrats have done nothing but sit on their hands. Crickets, that is what we hear from Democrats right now.
In 2016, Clinton claimed the Russian interference was “an attack against our country.” Pelosi called it “an assault on our democracy.” Schiff called it an “unprecedented attack on our democracy.” The pattern is clear: push a specific talking point and drum it into the heads of voters.
My readers know my ultimate litmus test is “what if” the shoe was on the other foot here. So, let’s just imagine that Vladimir Putin published a 25-page letter advocating for Trump and his endorsed Republicans over Democrats in the upcoming election cycle.
What would Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the Democrat Party be saying right now? How would the media report it?
I can actually answer that for you because we saw the outrage over a Russian oligarch giving a six-figure wedding present to Trump Jr. by paying for his wedding bash. That got more media coverage, there was actually talk of investigations being held, and that is with Republicans running both chambers of Congress.
You cannot have it both ways. Either the foreign operatives or the government are trying to influence the election with this type of behavior, or it’s not. The goalpost is not supposed to move based on the party benefiting or being attacked.
The reason that 25-page letter was published by Iran is pretty obvious. The nation is getting crushed, on the verge of collapse, and it wants Trump out before he finishes the job.
It is telling Americans to reject Trump to save the country.
It makes sense from Iran’s perspective to throw the Hail Mary, but it does not make sense for Democrats and the media to outright ignore the attempt to sway American voters.
The media has actually downplayed the letter by Iran, with Al Jazeera framing it as a “diplomatic appeal.” It has also been called a “propaganda push” and an “unusual appeal.” But none of them dared to call it election interference.
Four years… four years were spent covering the Russian collusion narrative, and even after an Inspector General’s report and a Special Counsel report debunked it, the media still talks about it, and Hillary Clinton continues to claim that the election was stolen from her by Russia.
In fact, there are still Democrats more worried about Trump’s 2020 election claims than this interference by Iran. The Guardian even published a report on how the Democrats can stop Trump from trying to steal the election.
Make no mistake about it, the IRGC just endorsed Democrats, especially Democrats running against MAGA Republicans, for the 2026 midterm election cycle. The party, the entire party.
What was the response? Complete and utter silence. Quite frankly, I cannot believe that Republicans are not making a bigger stink about it. If I were running the RNC, that letter and quotes from it would be plastered all over social media, TV commercials, and billboards.
But what the media and Democrats have done is prove the one point I have been making since I started covering politics…
It’s not about the American people. It’s not about democracy. It’s about power. And as long as it helps Democrats, the party, its politicians, and the media are okay with it, even if it comes from a terrorist organization.
