Trump’s Humility in Syria Is Making America Great Again

Donald Trump’s decision to draw down in Syria is exactly the reason he got elected in the first place.

Contrast his common sense foreign policy to the arrogance of neoliberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice, and neocon Republicans like Nikki Haley and Lindsey Graham.

These blood and guts politicians believe the U.S. can be the world’s policeman. Trump understands that interventionist foreign policy always has unintended consequences because conditions on the ground halfway around the world are far more complex than even the top “experts” in Washington can manage. He also understands that U.S. troops should only be put in harm’s way to protect the American people, not police the endless conflicts of foreigners.

Democrats, Neocons Want Blood On Our Hands

You know Donald Trump is doing something right when establishment politicians on both sides of the aisle attack him for it. On Monday, Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley attacked Trump at the same time for his courageous leadership in Syria.

Both used the tired, old line about supporting our allies, the Kurds:

On the Daily Show, Trevor Noah led the liberal entertainment media’s assault on Trump’s foreign policy along the same lines. Noah bemoaned the U.S. abandoning its Kurdish allies in the region. But all Trump’s critics are deceiving themselves and anyone who’s taking them seriously by acting as if matters in Syria are that simple. They’re obviously not.

It’s this fatal conceit of Washington warmongers that made it possible for a headline like this one from the LA Times on March 27, 2016: “In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA.” That headline exemplifies what the U.S. has been doing all over the world with American taxpayer dollars, and the blood of her sons and daughters.

And if Democrats really cared so much about keeping faith with U.S. allies, why did Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama push for regime change in Libya? After 9-11 Muammar Gaddafi relinquished Libya’s WMD and became a key strategic partner in the Bush Administration’s Global War on Terror. Condi Rice declared a “new phase” in U.S.-Libya relations. John McCain praised Gaddafi. The Bush Administration held Libya up as a model for Iran and North Korea to follow. Yet Obama wiped out this stable, secular regime, an ally of the West in North Africa.

In Syria Trump Is Doing What He Promised

The war hawks in Washington support endless interventions that make the world less stable and more dangerous for them and for Americans. In his major foreign policy speech on April 27, 2016, Donald Trump summarized the problem:

“We went from mistakes in Iraq to Egypt to Libya, to President Obama’s line in the sand in Syria. Each of these actions have helped to throw the region into chaos and gave ISIS the space it needs to grow and prosper. Very bad. It all began with a dangerous idea that we could make western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interests in becoming a western democracy.”

And promised the solution:

“We’re getting out of the nation-building business and instead focusing on creating stability in the world. Our moments of greatest strength came when politics ended at the water’s edge.”

Those who bled the most for Washington’s insane foreign policy were more likely to vote for Trump. A 2017 Boston University study found that communities that suffered high military casualties were more likely to swing for Trump than similar communities with a lower battlefield death toll. Why do Democrats care more about Kurdish soldiers than American soldiers?

A nation weary of irrational war and fruitless nation-building overseas elected Donald Trump to fix a disastrously broken foreign policy status quo. With Hillary Clinton, we would have had endless foreign conflicts in places like Syria and Iran. Life is cheap to the political establishment. But Donald Trump is making life precious again, and America great again.