Between two tweets about the governorship race in Louisiana, Donald Trump placed his foreign policy message over the weekend: "The endless wars must end!"
By this time, the offensive of Turkey in northern Syria was long ago. More than 100,000 people were already on the run. With his decision to pull the US soldiers off the border, Trump had cleared the way for the Turkish attack. Critics accused him of treason to the Kurds, the former ally in the fight against the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS).
The US President has been dealing with this criticism, which has been going on for days, essentially with two messages. One is outward: superficial to the Syrian Kurds, but it is heard by all (potential) allies. The Kurds would have fought against ISIS out of self-interest anyway and wanted their own territory, Trump said. "They did not help us in World War II, they did not help us with Normandy."
The Endless Wars Must End!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2019Trump makes it clear: Neither the Kurds nor anyone else should doubt that for him also geopolitics consists of nothing but deals, transactions and self-interest.
Confrontation with America's foreign policy establishment
Trump had campaigned on an isolationist platform under the historically charged slogan "America First." Accordingly, his second message is for those who, in his view, led the US "into the quicksand of the Middle East" and "are now fighting to keep us there". What they mean is the Washington foreign policy establishment: those politicians, military, diplomats, and intelligence agents working to promote a more active US role in the world, in an international order, alongside allies.
Not a few of them are in Trump's party, and some were even in his government.
"We can want a war to end, we can declare it over," said James Mattis, Secretary of Defense in Trump's Cabinet, NBC, by the beginning of the year. "But 'the enemy gets the vote,' as we say in the military." In this case, the US may be ready with the Middle East, but the Middle East is not ready with the US.
Mattis had resigned after Trump announced his return to the US presence in Syria. In a remarkable letter to the President, the General explained the reasons for his departure. The letter reads like an antithesis to Trump's isolationist notion of America's role in the world.
DPA
Letter of resignation from Mattis to Trump: clear analysis
"One of the convictions I have always had is that our power as a nation is inextricably linked to our comprehensive and unique system of alliances and partnerships," wrote Mattis. As part of this system, he mentioned on the one hand the Nato, which Trump had in the past described as "obsolete", and on the other the anti-IS alliance, as its ground forces fought the Kurdish-led "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF).
The conclusion Mattis could not handle: "Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense in office whose views on these and other issues are better suited to yours, I believe that it is right for me, from my position withdraw. "
"The biggest mistake of his presidency"
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a foreign-affairs hawk and a close trump ally, is also worried about the President's obvious lack of interest in the Middle East: "This is the pre-September 11 mentality that paves the way for 9/11 added: "What happens in Afghanistan is none of our business," he told Fox News. "If he continues, that's the biggest mistake of his presidency."
Marco Rubio spoke of an "extraordinary and lasting" damage to the reputation and national interests of the United States. The Republican Senator from Florida had worked closely with the Trump government, especially in the Venezuelan crisis. And Mitch McConnell, who leads the Republican majority in the Senate, said: "A sudden withdrawal of US troops from Syria would benefit only Russia, Iran and the Assad regime."
At this, the Kurds served as the primary ground fighters against ISIS in Syria so US troops would not have to.
Then cut deal with Erdogan allowing him to wipe them out.
Damage to our reputation & national interest wants to be extraordinary & long lasting.
Trump threatens Turkey with economic consequences and works with senators such as Graham on a sanction package. It was "imperative" that Turkey would not allow even a confirmed IS fighter free, said Trump's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Former Defense Secretary Mattis considers that unrealistic. If the US did not maintain military pressure, ISIS would revive. "It is absolutely clear that they will come back." Mattis points to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, which contributed to the fact that the IS could begin his later victory campaign.
The doubts of the former defense minister on troop withdrawal are apparently also shared by local soldiers. "They trusted us and we broke that trust," the New York Times quoted a US officer fighting alongside the Kurds in northern Syria. He speaks of a "patch on the American conscience". He was ashamed, another soldier told the newspaper.
Trump had announced the victory over the jihadists months ago. If the militia regained strength, it would be embarrassing.
The Impeachment and the Evangelicals
In other ways, Trump's Middle East policy could affect his political destiny at home. In the Ukraine, Democrats in the US House of Representatives are investigating the impeachment of the president. The question of whether Trump can remain in office will be crucially dependent on the votes of the Republicans in Congress.
more on the subject
Despite the alienation in Syria's policy, there is no evidence yet that senators like Graham and Rubio would vote against Trump. Both jumped in the past several times over their shadow and kept Trump loyalty.
Probably another development Trump worried about the election year 2020. TV preacher Pat Robertson criticized his decision as "absolutely horrible." Evangelicals in the US are concerned about the situation of Christians in Syria, whom they see as the protectors of the Kurds. The arch-conservative Christians are among Trump's electoral voters: More than 80 percent of the white evangelicals voted for Trump according to NBC News 2016.
In the Syrian question shows: Whether the US President wants to admit it or not - foreign policy is sometimes domestic policy.