Sen. Lindsey Graham and the rest of the Republican establishment look more than a little silly for the hysterical fit they threw last week when President Trump withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria. While Republicans were not nearly as vociferous in their denouncement of the president as (the formerly anti-war) Democrats, there were plenty of very “concerned” GOP lawmakers who felt that they now had license to criticize Trump and compare him, unfavorably, to Barack Obama.
To an extent, we get it. A lot of these Republicans built their reputations on being fiercely hawkish supporters of America’s adventures in the Middle East. To see Trump do what he always said he was going to do – pull back from international platforms where the U.S. military has no business being in the first place – was upsetting to their status quo. They’ll put up with Trump’s behavior on Twitter, and they’ll stand by him in the face of Democrat smears, but support him as he tries to bring our boys home from an unsalvageable hellhole? No, no, we can’t do that.
But perhaps these Republicans will now acknowledge that maybe – just maybe – Trump knew what he was doing all along. The president announced on Wednesday that his administration has overseen the conditions necessary to hammer out a ceasefire between Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, leading Trump to withdraw the recent sanctions the White House placed on Turkey for their initial invasion.
“I do believe it will be permanent,” Trump said of the ceasefire. “This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else. We’ve done something very, very special. We’ve saved the lives of many, many Kurds. The sanctions are lifted unless something happens that we’re not happy with.”
The original imposition of sanctions was exactly in line with remarks President Trump made when he announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region. In his first tweet on the subject, Trump made it clear that he would “destroy” Turkey economically if they were to take advantage of America’s absence in Northern Syria. Immediately after Turkey tried to test that proposition, Trump proved that – unlike his predecessor – he doesn’t play around when he tells you he’d drawn a red line in the sand. Now Erdogan knows who he’s dealing with.
Maybe, one of these days, Republicans will learn as well.
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