Progressive legal analyst Elie Mystal sparked controversy on The Joy Reid Show Wednesday, calling for the United States to be treated as a rogue nation by the global community.
“Our country needs to be sanctioned. We are the bad guys on the world stage,” Mystal told host Joy Reid. “We’re a menace not only to free people everywhere, but to peaceful people everywhere.”
Mystal was responding to President Donald Trump’s recent airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June, arguing that the attacks were “illegal and unnecessary” and that the U.S. “should be sanctioned and rebuked” for its actions.
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President Trump, speaking after the strikes, said the U.S. had crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities and announced that both Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire following 12 days of hostilities.
Despite that development, Mystal doubled down on his criticism of U.S. foreign policy, calling on the international community to hold America accountable.
“I know we’re rich and people want to do business with us, but at some point, the global community has to say: enough is enough,” Mystal said. “We should be sanctioned the same way we’ve sanctioned countries like North Korea or China. We are now the rogue state.”
Mystal’s remarks come as the Trump administration continues to broker ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
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Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, defended the Iran strikes, calling them a “shot in the arm” for U.S. credibility on the global stage.
Still, Mystal argued that American military actions, especially in the Middle East, are eroding the country’s moral standing.
“We’ve lost the right to be seen as a global leader,” he said. “The same rules we’ve enforced on others must now be applied to us.”
