As expected, Donald Trump has decided to take full credit for the recent fall of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, doing so in his latest post on social media. In response, critics of the president made sure to give him a little reality check on the issue at hand.

Trump on ISIS

In the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the instability in Syria, a faction of al-Qaeda splintered off into what is known as the Islamic State, often abbreviated as ISIS or ISIL. With an unstable government in Iraq and American troops mostly exiting the country in 2010, ISIS was able to take over select areas as the battle to control the Middle East moved forward.

Since then, American intelligence, along with troops on the ground from various nations in the region, were able to push back at ISIS forces, resulting in the Iraqi government regaining control of the capital of Mosul earlier this year. Despite this, President Donald Trump has taken credit for the results, which has been doubled down on in the right-wing media. As seen in a tweet on December 27, the president quoted an article in the Washington Examiner detailing the ground lost by the Islamic terrorist group over the last year.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday night, Donald Trump gloated about the struggles facing ISIS since he took over as president by sharing a favorable article from the Washington Examiner.

"On 1/20 - the day Trump was inaugurated - an estimated 35,000 ISIS fighters held approx 17,500 square miles of territory in both Iraq and Syria," Trump's tweet read, while pointing out that currently ISIS only has "1,000 or so fighters occupy roughly 1,900 square miles."

Reality check

While the numbers in Donald Trump's tweet via the Washington Examiner are technically correct, much of those results are due to the policies put in place by the Obama administration, as well as the decisions made by the Iraqi military and others in the region.

"That's mostly because of Kurdish, Syrian Army, Rebel a joint military alliance plus an ISIS general collapse. Not just Trump," one tweet added.

"Most of this is due to Obama’s initiatives," a Twitter user wrote.

"Thanks for patting yourself on the back, AGAIN. I am happy to see that the measures implemented under the Obama administration are working. Isn't it time to hit the putting green?" a follow-up tweet wrote. "And yet Obama was still named the most admired man in America. u mad bro?" another tweet asked.

"Thank you @BarackObama - Your sound planning and preparation have paid off," an additional tweet stated. "Stop taking credit for what Obama set in motion & what the Peshmerga Kurds accomplished, which was defeat ISIS," yet another tweet read.
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