Trump Is Losing the Battle to End ‘Endless War’ in Middle East

U.S. President Donald Trump has spent the past week trying to justify his sudden and reportedly impulsive decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and clear the way for a Turkish invasion. He made one bizarre, bombastic statement after the other while primarily arguing that he was helping America by ending its involvement in an “endless war” in the Middle East.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl, while interviewing U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Sunday, commented that Trump’s Syria policy actually sounds a lot like Sanders’ own anti-interventionist rhetoric.

Sanders shot back: “Yes, I know. But the difference between Trump and me is he lies; I don’t.” 

Of all Trump’s “justifications” for his Syria pullout, his insistence that he is keeping a campaign promise is the one that resonates most with some of his base. His 2016 vow to “bomb the shit out of ISIS” while getting America out of Middle Eastern wars — where the “U.S. looks so stupid” — helped win over the faction of the GOP that today is led by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.

However, it is also one of the most easily debunked and demonstrably false statements Trump continues to make regarding Syria.