Trump Inexplicably Abandons Our Allies, Leaving Chaos (and ISIS, Russia, and Turkey) In His Wake
On This Day In 2019
Trump snatches defeat from the jaws of victory: In 2014, U.S. forces entered Syria to defeat ISIS and help the rebels fight against the savage regime of President Assad. They were mostly successful, and by 2019, the U.S.-led coalition had seriously degraded ISIS.
But OTDI 2019, Max Hoffman revealed how Trump, in just a single phone call, reversed five years of U.S. military successes.
In the fall of 2019, Turkish president Erdogan plotted his own invasion of Syria. But a force of 2,500 U.S. troops stood in his way. So Trump and Erdogan spoke on the phone. Full details of the conversation weren’t revealed. But it just so happens that later that same evening, Trump unilaterally declared America’s victory over ISIS and ordered the immediate withdrawal from Syria of all U.S. forces.
And he did mean “immediate.” Our troops were forced to abandon our bases so quickly they even left behind food on the tables…to say nothing of leaving behind millions of dollars of the finest military equipment.
Permission to invade: Seeking to placate a strongman he admired, Trump opened the floodgates to other regional powers to literally flow right in. But our instant retreat had come as news to almost everyone in Congress, the West Wing, and global capitals. Even Republicans condemned Trump’s withdrawal, as did the Pentagon.
Liz Cheney (R-WY), the third-ranking GOP House member, warned: “The U.S. is abandoning our ally the Kurds, who fought ISIS (Islamic State) on the ground and helped protect the U.S. homeland. This decision aids America’s adversaries, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, and paves the way for a resurgence of ISIS.”
“My great and unmatched wisdom”: Faced with the brutal backlash from his own party Trump responded: "As I have stated strongly before…if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I've done it before!).”
There’s been a common school of thought about why a second Trump Administration would be even worse: He has removed many of the guardrails, both within government and the courts, and would therefore be unshackled to do whatever he wants without consequence. Note, though, as evidenced in this case, even in his first term Trump was able to do something like this all by himself.
Dive Deeper
Business Insider has the pic and talks about the abandoned bases
Max Hoffman (Center for American Progress) summarizes “Trump’s Syria Shambles”
ABC News reported on Trump’s bizarre order withdrawing U.S. troops
Yahoo! News explains how Erdogan “bluffed” Trump out of Syria here
Reuters has the Liz Cheney quote