Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who once proclaimed himself as a supporter of President Donald Trump, has turned his back on the Commander-in-Chief in recent days.
He has criticized the President harshly, and compared him to former President Barack Hussein Obama for pulling troops out of Northern Syria.
The Obama-libertarian foreign policy does not make America safe.
If ignoring radical Islam made America safe, there would NOT have been a 9/11.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 7, 2019
No matter what President Trump is saying about his decision, it is EXACTLY what President Obama did in Iraq with even more disastrous consequences for our national security.
Unlike President Obama, I hope President Trump will reassess and take sound military advice.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 7, 2019
Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration. This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 9, 2019
American isolationism:
* Did not work before WWII.
* Did not work before 9/11.
* Will not work now.When it comes to fighting ISIS it's a bad idea to outsource American national security to Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
To believe otherwise is very dangerous.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 9, 2019
Trump hit Graham back while addressing reporters at the White House on Wednesday, saying that the neoconservative war hawk would like to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops throughout the world for hundreds of years before blasting the notion of endless war:
President Trump Nails It: “We’re getting out of the endless wars, we HAVE to do it."
We must put America First and rebuild our country!
We will lose this great country if we don’t.pic.twitter.com/rLphKeIYpB
— The Columbia Bugle ???????? (@ColumbiaBugle) October 9, 2019
The President also gave heartfelt comments on how difficult it is to sign letters addressed to parents of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in battle. He mentioned the futility of the endless wars in the Middle East and demonstrated an empathy for the troops that his most recent predecessors never had:
The hardest thing I have to do as President… pic.twitter.com/6bzwh78I00
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2019
It has been a bad week for the neocons, who, after losing their stalwart John Bolton as national security adviser, have seen a marked shift from Trump toward a non-interventionist foreign policy.
Nobody in Washington D.C. is happier about this news than Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who is seeing his alliance with Trump pay massive dividends.
“I think President Trump recognizes what President Reagan recognized — unfortunately too late, in Beirut. Leaving three or 400 people in an area that are vulnerable could lead to catastrophe, but also doesn’t really do anything to secure our national security,” Paul said during an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News earlier this week.
“You know, I’m kind of the belief go big — go big or go home. You know, 200 or 300 people are just a trip wire to get us drawn into something and a tragedy probably, but they aren’t enough to do anything,” Paul added.
While Paul shows sympathy to the Kurds, he does not believe that U.S. toops should sacrifice blood in order to provide protection to them in Syria or anywhere else.
“Right now, there at least is a Kurdish autonomous region within Iraq. And I think that’s a good place for people to live if they want to have more Kurdish autonomy,” Paul said. “But then it may be unrealistic to think that either Turkey or Syria is going to give up part of their territory up there to an autonomous region for the Kurds.”
Paul argued that the instability of the Middle East has only been exacerbated by foreign intervention, and keeping troops there only prolongs America from embracing the inevitable.
“The bottom line is, this chaos was fed by outside intervention. The Turks got involved. We got involved, the Qataris, the Saudis. All these people got involved in this Syrian civil war. And to what end?” Paul asked.
“I mean, hundreds of thousands of people have died. Millions of people are displaced. So, once again, the idea of regime change in the Middle East — and this is what President Trump is so right about — regime change hasn’t worked. It’s led to more chaos,” he added.
“And the rise of ISIS came in the chaos of Hussein being toppled, but also the chaos of Assad’s regime being made marginal and made fragile,” Paul concluded.
Amazing day with @realDonaldTrump! Together we will shrink government, end wars and spend money at home not abroad! #maga pic.twitter.com/SzE8EXdkvY
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 13, 2019
Graham is clearly triggered by the fact that Trump is coming around to Paul’s point of view, and rejecting the failed neocon policies of the past.