On Syria, Trump is right to ignore failed foreign policy elites who embroiled us in Iraq

One of the reasons Donald Trump got elected president was because he spoke the truth about our nearly two decades-long foreign policy in the Middle East. 

The gist of his argument was: We’ve spent trillions of dollars on wars, occupation and nation-building in the Middle East and have achieved nothing. Our soldiers have suffered grievously with our military adventurism. That money could’ve been better spent on domestic nation-building to help Americans lead better lives.

Whatever one thinks of Trump and his character, his argument was sound and was embraced by tens of millions of Americans. It also echoed what another populist, Bernie Sanders, was saying in much of 2016.

With this argument, Trump was able to pulverize the foreign policy establishment wings of both parties, represented by Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Fast forward to 2018, and to Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw roughly 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, overriding the advice of his generals and almost the entire foreign policy establishment.