There Was a Tea Party Anti-Iran Deal Rally in DC and It Was Bonkers

Read: Everything You Need to Know About the Iran Deal

Hundreds of people congregated on the US Captol's West Lawn today for a rally against the Iran Deal headlined by the reddest of red-meat conservatives: Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck, among other speakers.

Republicans generally object to the deal on the grounds that Iran is going to either dodge inspections and acquire a nuclear weapon, or will get a weapon lawfully after some of the deal's provisions expire. And speakers at the rally were portraying this critique in the most apocalyptic terms possible.

"There is no greater threat to the safety of America. There is no greater threat to the safety and security of Israel than a nuclear Iran," exclaimed Cruz in a speech that you can watch in a video posted by Yahoo.

"A nuclear Iran poses an existential threat to the nation of Israel," he said to cheers, echoing a position held by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "And let me be clear: When he says existential, he doesn't mean a bunch of Frenchmen in black berets chain smoking."

He continued: "People will die. Americans will die, Israelis will die, Europeans will die."

Trump agreed. "They will not let Israel survive with incompetent leadership, like we have now," he said. "Israel will not survive." Trump remained on-brand, bringing up his business expertise: "I've never seen something so incompetently negotiated," he said according to CNN. "And I mean never."

Sarah Palin found the time in her speech to take a jab at the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Since our president won't say it, since he hasn't called off the dogs, we'll say," she said, according to Mediaite. "Police officers and first responders all across this great land, we've got your back."

The protest aside, President Barack Obama has enough votes in support of the Iran Deal as of last week, meaning the opposition couldn't override his veto if Congress voted to disapprove of the deal. And as of today the House GOP is divided on how they should fight the deal, with some members wanting to focus on alleged "side deals" between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.