The U.S. airstrike on Shayrat on Friday annihilated about 20 percent of the Syrian government’s operational aircraft, James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, said Monday. The actions of the military under Donald Trump’s command are far from his previous comments on the conflict in Syria, at least if we look into his Twitter timeline.
A prolific tweeter and former reality TV star, Trump on Twitter is easily an entertainment to many but a reason to question his character at the same time. To be fair, maybe the President shouldn’t be held accountable for his past comments about military operations in Syria, and it’s implied that what he said years ago on social media doesn’t exactly reflect his deeply held beliefs now that he’s America’s commander of everything.
After all, most people are inclined to be injudicious on Twitter.
What Trump said in 2013
In August 2012, President Barack Obama had said that “a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” A year later, sarin, a colorless, odorless chemical, killed more than a thousand people in the Syrian capital Damascus, to which the U.S. referred to in “high confidence” that the Syrian government had been responsible.
Trump, then a TV personality, had disapproved of the Obama administration’s instigations. Now, he has defended the operation against criticism from some members of Congress and military analysts, even going to lengths of applauding the military men and women via Twitter – the same platform where he told Obama to “stay out of Syria.”
We should stay the hell out of Syria, the "rebels" are just as bad as the current regime. WHAT WILL WE GET FOR OUR LIVES AND $ BILLIONS?ZERO
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2013
President Obama's weakness and indecision may have saved us from doing a horrible and very costly (in more ways than money) attack on Syria!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2013
If the U.S. attacks Syria and hits the wrong targets, killing civilians, there will be worldwide hell to pay. Stay away and fix broken U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2013
What I am saying is stay out of Syria.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2013
America’s ‘measured response’
The U.S.
fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Syrian airbase following the chemical weapons attack in Idlib province that took the lives of more than 80 people, including children. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military denied using chemical weapons and blamed rebels for the carnage. Meanwhile, Russia, Syria’s strong ally, said it had no warplanes in the vicinity.
To a regular human being whose sole source of information is the media, Trump’s inconsistency is already a solid reason to bombard him with hostility. If the U.S. military’s aggression is enough reason to get militants out on the streets already, a president with conflicting statements could drive its citizens out of the country.
And yet, the difference should be pointed out that Trump had been briefed of everything there is to know about the Syrian Civil War, something he lacked as a ridiculously wealthy businessman with a Twitter account. White House aides said that Trump was moved to act after aides on Tuesday delivered a detailed assessment of the chemical attack and the president viewed television images of dead and suffering children.
Analysts questioned whether the Trump administration, in its rapid deliberations, had fully considered how to deal with the unknown consequences of the missile attack. Truth be told, analysts are not the only ones wondering – so is the rest of the world.
Maybe we’ll find answers on Trump’s Twitter soon.
