Sen. Lindsey Graham, the die-hard Trump opponent turned die-hard Trump ally had some very harsh words about Dear Leader’s decision to pull out American troops from northern Syria. But one thing Graham didn’t mention during his six minutes of criticism on Fox & Friends this morning is how the move is a big gift to Russia.
Even #MoscowMitch McConnell criticized Trump’s move as, among other things, a present to Russia: “A precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement.
Yet, as scathing as Graham was about how the withdrawal would help ISIS, Iran and Assad and hurt the Kurds and the U.S., Graham said nothing about Russia.
GRAHAM: This is going to lead to ISIS’ re-emergence. Nothing better for ISIS than to create a conflict between the Kurds and Turkey. The Kurds will now ally with Assad because they have nobody to count on because we abandoned them. So this is a big win for Iran and Assad, a big win for ISIS. I will do everything I can to sanction Turkey if they step one foot in northeastern Syria. That will sever my relationship with Turkey, I think most of the Congress feels that way. I will do a resolution urging the president to reconsider this decision.
The president’s right about the ISIS fighters - Europe needs to do more, but he’s the president of the United States and it requires leadership. When President Obama was told what would happen in Iraq, it did. And now I’m here to say that this is gonna lead to the re-emergence of ISIS and the biggest winner of all this will be the Iranians. And that’s too bad.
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GRAHAM: The Kurds stepped up when nobody else would to fight ISIS. If we abandon them, good luck getting anybody to help America in the future with radical Islam, Al Qaeda and ISIS.
If you believe that Iran is a threat to the region, they’re the biggest winner of this, and you may be tired of fighting radical Islam but they’re not tired of fighting you. I heard this same argument from President Obama … I expect an American president to do what’s in our national security interest. And it’s never in our national security interest to abandon an ally who’s helped us fight ISIS. It’s never in our national security interest to create conditions for the re-emergence of ISIS.
To all those fighters, American soldiers who’ve died in the fight against ISIS, I feel terrible for you because they’re gonna come back and you’ve just dismembered Syria even further.
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ISIS is not defeated, my friend. The biggest lie being told by the administration [is] that ISIS is defeated. The caliphate is destroyed but there’s thousands of fighters over there and know the caliphate would not have been destroyed without the Kurds. And I applaud the president for getting the Kurds and the Arabs to do most of the fighting. The casualties to destroy the caliphate was very low. We’ve got less than a thousand troops down in Syria. But this impulsive decision by the president has undone all the gains we’ve made, thrown the region into further chaos, Iran is licking their chops. If I’m an ISIS fighter, I’ve got a second lease on life. So to those who think ISIS has been defeated, you will soon see. And to Turkey, you’ve destroyed the relationship, what little you had with the U.S. Congress and I will do everything I can to sanction Turkey’s military and their economy if they step one foot into Syria.
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I hope I’m making myself clear how shortsighted and irresponsible this decision is, in my view.
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This whole thing with the whistleblower is political to its core. I like President Trump, I’ve tried to help him. This to me is just unnerving to its core. To say to the American people ISIS has been destroyed in Syria is not true.
At the end, when Graham said he hopes Trump will reconsider this decision, cohost Brian Kilmeade said, “I hope so. He did once. Hopefully, he will again.
Watch everybody stay mum about the reward Trump just gave to Russia below, from the October 7, 2019 Fox & Friends.
And the justification would be that this was a promise Trump made to his electors?
How about Mexico paying for that silly wall along the Rio Grande?
Imagine how the demons torment him when he’s all alone and wide awake at 3am…