Trump supporters hail US strikes in Nigeria as ‘amazing Christmas present’ | Republicans
The US Christmas Day strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria were welcomed by Donald Trump supporters who have been campaigning for months for the president to respond forcefully to the killings of Christians in the country.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than by avenging the deaths of Christians through the justified slaughter of Islamist terrorists,” far-right political activist Laura Loomer posted on X. “You must love this! Death to all Islamist terrorists! Thank you.”
Loomer said she was informed by the U.S. Department of Defense — which the Trump administration calls the War Department — that U.S. cruise missile strikes carried out with the cooperation of the Nigerian government had been “a direct response to the war.” [IS] Jihadist Terrorists Killing Christians in Nigeria.”
U.S. Congressman Randy Fine, a Florida Republican who in November supported a congressional resolution calling for Nigeria to be designated a “country of particular concern” because of its religious violence, called Thursday’s strikes “an incredible Christmas present!”
“With Muslim terrorists attacking Christians in Nigeria, Syria and even Europe – simply because they refuse to submit to Islam – the president is showing that we will no longer tolerate these barbarians,” Fine said on X, after suggesting earlier in December that “traditional Muslims” should be “destroyed.”
The uniformity of the Republican response contrasts with the campaign of economic pressure and airstrikes against alleged drug trafficking boats that the Trump administration is waging in Venezuela to oust its president, Nicolás Maduro. Some Republicans have warned that the United States’ history of “regime change” efforts is not promising and have warned against direct military strikes against Venezuela.
Attacks on Christians by Islamic extremist groups in Nigeria, such as Boko Haram, have drawn increased attention from American Christian groups generally aligned with Trump.
“Don’t test President Trump’s resolve [sic] “Tonight’s strike, in coordination with the Nigerian government, is only the first step in ending the massacre of Christians and the security crisis affecting all Nigerians.”
In other comments Friday, other Republican lawmakers praised Trump for carrying out the strikes. North Carolina Republican Senator Ted Budd said ISIS “is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Christians and religious minorities in Nigeria.”
Budd wrote that Trump’s “decisive strikes will save lives and protect religious freedom. God bless our brave men and women in uniform.”
Congressman Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican who recently led a delegation to Nigeria, said attitudes within the Nigerian government were “beginning to shift toward protecting Christians — in addition to taking action against those who terrorize moderate Christians and Muslims.”
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said on X that he congratulated the Trump administration as well as American troops for “these strikes against bloodthirsty organizations”. [IS] savages who not only persecute Christians, but who have also killed many Americans.”
Pressure on the administration to act in Nigeria has increased since July, when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued an advisory that the Nigerian government was “often unable to prevent or respond slowly to violent attacks by Fulani herders, bandit gangs, and insurgent entities such as JAS/Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).”
In October, Ted Cruz – a Republican senator from Texas – said the United States was able to identify perpetrators of anti-Christian violence in Nigeria “and I intend to hold them accountable.” Cruz said that since 2009, “more than 50,000 Christians in Nigeria have been massacred and more than 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been destroyed.”
At the recent AmericaFest, a four-day gathering of American conservatives hosted by Turning Point USA, Trinidadian rap star Nicki Minaj spoke with Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, about the oppression of Christians in Nigeria. She said she loves Nigeria in part because its pastor is Nigerian.
“Hearing that people are being kidnapped — while they’re in church, people are being kidnapped, people are being killed, brutalized, all because of their religion — that should spark outrage in America, and that’s what it’s doing,” Minaj said.
Trump told Politico on Friday that the Christmas strike was originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday, but the president delayed it until Thursday for symbolic reasons.
“I said, ‘No, let’s give a Christmas present,'” Trump remarked to the outlet. “They didn’t think it was going to happen, but we hit them hard. Every side was decimated.”
Thursday’s strikes in Nigeria come less than a week after the United States struck more than 70 Islamic State networks and infrastructure in Syria in response to an attack that killed two American service members and a civilian.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Army Central Command (Centcom), said the Syrian strikes were “critical to preventing [IS] to inspire terrorist plots and attacks against the American homeland.”
Hegseth warned Friday of further US strikes against IS targets in northern Nigeria.
