John Kerry just reminded everyone why he should’ve stuck to windsurfing. The former Secretary of State went on CNN this week to bash President Trump’s successful strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities—and the internet torched him for it.

Appearing alongside anchor Christiane Amanpour, Kerry delivered a muddled defense of the Obama-era appeasement strategy that enabled Iran’s nuclear ambitions in the first place. While Trump and Israel were celebrating a tactical knockout that stunned Tehran and likely delayed their nuclear program for years, Kerry was busy wringing his hands about Iranian “moderates” and imaginary consequences.

“You cannot bomb away the memory of how to make a bomb,” says former Secretary of State John Kerry, “One of the dangers here is that the more this goes on in a military way, the more power goes to the worst offenders within Iran: the IRGC. And that’s not good for anybody.” pic.twitter.com/dnitBdc3cF

— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) June 23, 2025

Critics pounced immediately. RedState’s Bonchie slammed Kerry’s appearance as “insanely stupid,” noting how divorced his take was from the strategic and political reality. Kerry’s big complaint? That bombing Iran might empower hardliners in the regime. Never mind that Iran is already run top to bottom by hardliners. The IRGC, Iran’s elite terror squad, doesn’t need more power—they already serve as the Ayatollah’s iron fist.

The online clip quickly went viral, with users mocking Kerry’s implication that Iran could just bounce back as if rebuilding a nuclear program were as simple as restocking kitchen supplies. But experts have said the knowledge base and infrastructure destroyed in the strike may take decades to rebuild, particularly after Israel reportedly targeted top scientists and wiped out nuclear archives.

That’s the key point: Iran may still dream of the bomb, but their roadmap is in shreds—and Kerry doesn’t seem to grasp that.

As Bonchie put it, “It’s not like buying a cake mix and whipping things up in 20 minutes.” Indeed, the strikes demolished not just physical sites, but the intellectual foundation of Iran’s weapons development. The Mullahs can’t go to ZipRecruiter for replacement physicists.

Kerry’s argument boils down to the same tired myth that a “moderate” Iran exists, and if only we treat the regime nicely, they’ll behave. It’s the same logic that got us the disastrous Iran nuclear deal in the first place—one that handed Iran billions while failing to halt their weapons-grade enrichment. Kerry’s now pushing that same failed formula, even as the evidence shows Trump’s direct action has produced tangible results.

The reality is that Israel and the U.S. just dismantled a key threat in the Middle East, crippled Iran’s nuclear timeline, and showed the world that strength—not sanctions and sweet talk—is what gets results.

Kerry, meanwhile, is stuck rehashing failed talking points from a bygone era, trying desperately to rationalize a worldview that has crumbled under the weight of Trump’s success. His appearance wasn’t just out of touch—it was a political faceplant of historic proportions.

The contrast couldn’t be starker. While Kerry defends a policy that empowered Tehran’s worst actors, Trump is racking up praise even from unlikely voices. Former Biden official Brett McGurk recently gave Trump “extremely high marks” for his handling of the crisis. That’s how effective Trump’s strategy has been.

So Kerry can continue pouting on CNN—but the facts on the ground, and the reactions online, speak volumes.