President Trump faced a Republican rebellion today over his sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria – as a lopsided House majority condemned the move and ally Sen. Lindsey Graham vowed to become Trump’s ‘worst nightmare’ to protect the Kurds.
Graham, who has been a Trump ally in fending off the Russia probe, blasted the president for abandoning Kurdish allies in Syria in an interview with the Christian Broadcast Network, where evangelical leaders have been voicing concern about the risk to minorities including Christians in the region.
‘I will do anything I can to help him, but I will also become President Trump’s worst nightmare,’ Graham vowed. ‘I will not sit along the sidelines and watch a good ally, the Kurds, be slaughtered by Turkey.’
Graham cautioned: ‘This is a defining moment for President Trump. He needs to up his game.’
Another forceful rebuke came in the vote tally for a House resolution to oppose ‘the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria.’
After getting fast-tracked to the floor by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the resolution was backed by 354 lawmakers, with 60 voting against. The resolution said the Kurds fought ‘courageously’ against the ‘brutality of ISIS.’
The resolution quotes from the surprise White House statement that announced the coming operation by Turkey and ‘calls on the United States to continue supporting Syrian Kurdish communities through humanitarian support, including to those displaced or otherwise affected by ongoing violence in Syria.’
It also calls on the White House to ‘present a clear and specific plan for the enduring defeat of ISIS,’ amid fears captured fighters will get the chance to renew territorial gains that had been wiped out.
Among Republicans, 129 vote for it and 60 against.
The action came on a day when Trump blasted Graham, a frequent golf partner and ally in fending off the Mueller inquiry.
Graham chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and has said he wants to probe the alleged FBI misconduct as Trump wants him to do.
‘Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers and fighting other people’s wars,’ Trump snapped. ‘I want to get out of the Middle East. I think Lindsey should focus right now on Judiciary – like the Democrats, the do-nothing Democrats,’ Trump admonished Graham.
Trump insisted his handling of the matter had been “strategically brilliant” and minimized concerns for the Kurds, implying that they allied with the United States only out of their own self-interest.
“We paid a lot of money for them to fight with us,” he said. Echoing Mr. Erdogan’s talking points, Mr. Trump compared one faction of the Kurds to the Islamic State and he asserted that Kurds intentionally freed some Islamic State prisoners to create a backlash for him. “Probably the Kurds let go to make a little bit stronger political impact,” he said.