Trump Has Never Been Anti-War; He’s Not Even Anti-War inside the USA

The idea that Trump or Maga is in any sense “anti-war” is something between an absurdity and a misunderstanding. Kate and I had a good discussion about this in this week’s podcast. At a level, it is simple fraud. Trump said he had always been against the war in Iraq at a time when the United States had been bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan for years. It was a useful attack line and it was completely false. Trump was not in politics in 2002 or 2003 and since he said anything, like many people, he was for that when he was popular and against him when he was not.

During his presidency, he signed the assassination / targeted attack which killed Qasem Soleimani; He strongly involved the United States in the Saudi war in Yemen; He maintained or widened the American struggle against the Islamic State in Iraq / Syria. It is at least a continuity with the Obama years and in key respects an expansion of it. The only anxious exception is the agreement that Trump has concluded with the Taliban to leave Afghanistan – a bad deal with which Joe Biden was salted and followed and was constantly criticized, by Trump more than anyone. Afghanistan captures Trump perfectly – its only “anti -war” position was continuity by definition. And he turned against this as soon as he was unpopular. Trump obtained a “anti-war” mileage from his opposition to Ukrainian aid. But it is the pro-Russian rather than the anti-war.

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