“Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years,” the president complained.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Sen. Lindsey Graham, marking the latest salvo in the pair’s clash over Trump’s sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria.
“Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers fighting other people’s wars. I want to get out of the Middle East,” Trump charged during a news conference at the White House alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
………
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump also asserted that Kurdish fighters, who allied with the U.S. and did a great deal of the fighting to defeat ISIS over the last half decade, were “not angels.”
That prompted a few barbs from Graham, which Trump was then asked about at the later news conference.
“I hope President Trump is right in his belief that Turkey’s invasion of Syria is of no concern to us, abandoning the Kurds won’t come back to haunt us, ISIS won’t reemerge, and Iran will not fill the vacuum created by this decision,” Graham said Wednesday. “However, I firmly believe that if President Trump continues to make such statements this will be a disaster worse than President Obama’s decision to leave Iraq.”
And in a tweet, Graham said that Trump’s apparent indifference toward the Kurds “completely undercut” Pence and Pompeo on their impending trip to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hampering their “ability to end the conflict.”
Trump swatted back in his response to Graham, essentially telling Graham to stay in his own lane, and suggesting that he focus on the Senate Judiciary Committee he leads, “like the do-nothing Democrats.”
……..
Moments later, a defiant Graham fired back: “I will not be quiet, I will do everything I can to help the president get to a good spot, but if we do not leave some residual forces behind to partner with the Kurds, ISIS will come back.”
Calling Trump’s swerve on Syria “the biggest mistake of his presidency,” Graham then implored the president to just listen to his military advisers.
“Here’s what I would tell the president: You’re doing this against sound military advice. Forget about me, listen to your own people. You’re not,” he said.
- Discussion
-
“Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers fighting other people's wars. I want to get out of the Middle East,” Trump said during a news conference todayhttps://t.co/2ITiE5bdRd
— POLITICO (@politico) October 16, 2019
And that’s why I’m sending thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia. https://t.co/U3KfVhQveZ
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) October 16, 2019
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.