You had to know that the Leftist media would start attacking Trump over this. We won’t blame this as full on TDS, but it is close
The latest Syria chemical attack reveals the bankruptcy of Trump’s policies toward Assad
On April 7, 2017, the U.S. armed forces fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase to punish Bashar al-Assad for his use of chemical weapons against his own citizens. The Syrian president reportedly celebrated the one-year anniversary of the strike on Saturday by ordering another attack with chemical weapons that opposition activists said killed dozens of people in the city of Douma. This appears to be at least the eighthsuch attack by Assad this year — and the most brazen. Having seen that the United States would not react to his repeated violations of international laws, Assad has intensified his use of weapons of mass destruction.
The latest atrocity reveals as hollow much of the praise for President Trump’s 2017 strike. That applause came not only from his sycophants (“We’re proud of you,†radio host Mark Levin told the president) but also from critics bending over backward to appear fair. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), for example, said in a joint statement: “Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action. For that, he deserves the support of the American people.â€
I, too, supported the strike, but I doubted it would amount to much. As I wrote at the time: “If Trump is interested in truly ‘decisive’ action in Syria, he will need to go a whole lot further. What is required is a comprehensive diplomatic-military plan to end a six-year civil war that has inflicted so much human suffering and empowered so many extremist groups.â€
Needless to say, no such plan was ever forthcoming from the Trump administration. The administration is, in fact, a black hole for all plans. In lieu of strategy, it is governed entirely by presidential spasms and screeds.
Since taking a victory lap for his cruise-missile strike, Trump has left Assad, along with his Russian and Iranian backers, undisturbed to continue their meticulous work of mass murder. Trump evendiscontinued support for rebel groups fighting Assad and instead focused narrowly on the goal of eradicating the Islamic State. Now, with the finish line in sight, Trump appears to have set a deadline of October for the Defense Department to pull our troops out — even though the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, Israel and the Arab states are all telling him that this would be a monumental mistake. A premature departure will risk the success of the anti-Islamic State campaign and hand eastern Syria to Assad and his patrons.
Sorry for the long, long excerpt, but this was important in context. This is the liberal viewpoint, that they have to find some way to blame Trump. It is fair to note that opinion writer Max Boot does briefly hit Obama over his fecklessness, but not too much, just enough to note that Trump’s is the second regime to fail to truly respond to the conflict in Syria.
But, let’s consider: Obama set the standard for not responding to chemical weapons attacks in Syria by the Assad regime. He then figured out a way to get Russia and Iran overtly involved and leading the way in attempting to “stop” the civil war which also involves ISIS and other Islamic jihadi groups. What is Trump to do now? Airstrikes are dangerous, because they can hit Russian and Iranian military assets, sparking a wider war. He can’t go after Assad, who is protected by both the Russians and the Iranians.
If President Trump puts more boots on the ground, as Boot suggests, the “anti-war Left” will suddenly materialize again, haven taken a break from their criticism during Obama’s years, much like the media, which will also suddenly rail against getting involved in foreign adventures and stuff. Trump’s in a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation regarding an issue that was a carryover from the previous administration.
He is furthered damned if he does damned if he doesn’t regarding working with Russia to end the conflict. On one hand they say “you must work with Russia, especially diplomatically. In the next, they will be freaking out over any cooperation with Russia Russia Russia, linking this all to their so-called collusion conspiracy theories. They’ll call Trump a Putin puppet if he attempts to reach out to get something done.
Meanwhile, it appears as if someone has struck Syria overnight, and Russia and Iran are saying it was Israel. And, then there’s this
All the journos tweeting how sad and horrifying the images are, maybe spend some time thinking about how you cheerleaded our lightbringer his Excellency President Obama for saving the world by cutting a deal with Putin on chemical weapons you people celebrated. pic.twitter.com/8boqoQp8Tp
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) April 8, 2018
