Despite the historic deal with Iran which will halt their production of a nuclear weapon, and despite the fact that five American hostages once held by the Iranians are about to be reunited with their families, if you listen to Republicans you’d think these were all negative developments.

Donald Trump wasted no time commenting on the release of the captives:

“They’re getting seven people, so essentially they get $150bn plus seven, and we get four.”

Ted Cruz, who it it turns out is probably a Canadian citizen after all, took to social media and posted this:

Praise God! Surely bad parts of Obama's latest deal, but prayers of thanksgiving that Pastor Saeed is coming home. https://t.co/rad1VcWUml

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 16, 2016

And prior to the release of the five Americans, some on the right even accused the President of having forgotten about them. Here’s what part-time MSNBC host and full-time douchebag Joe Scarborough had to say earlier this week:

You can't ask #JasonRezaian bc Obama did a deal with Iran thugs who have held Jason hostage for almost 600 days. https://t.co/jzd7EyzbI0

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 13, 2016

Hey Iran, you have exactly 300 days left to push a US president around. Enjoy it while you can. After that, there will be hell to pay.

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 12, 2016

But  Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been held in Iran since 2012, told CNN:

“It’s been wonderful. Especially the last year. Constant communication. Constant updates. Of course last year, we met with President Obama. He was in Boise, Idaho, [and] we had a private meeting with [him]. The last  year has been the best support. They were continually updating us… talks they were having with Iran and the side negotiations. I had a feeling in the last few months that it was coming to a close, but I wasn’t really sure and I wouldn’t trying to get my hopes up.”

Did you catch that Trump, Cruz, and Scarborough? The White House was in constant contact with the families. And they got the five Americans released without having to fire a single shot by using something call diplomacy. Look it up in the dictionary and see what it means.

As usual, conservatives think the solution to every problem with another country is declaring war and sending thousands of young Americans to their deaths. And, as usual, they cannot stand to give President Obama even a smidgen of credit when he accomplishes something.

So welcome home to these brave Americans. Too bad they have to return to a country where the right wingers want to use them as a political cudgel.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.