First, Democrats accuse Donald Trump of not acting presidential enough. Then, when he does the most presidential thing of all -- protecting Americans from a violent terrorist -- they complain. When the White House's air strike took out one of the biggest threats to the West, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) called him a "monster." And she wasn't referring to dead Iranian leader General Qasem Soleimani. She was talking about Trump.
Most liberals would admit the world is better off without Soleimani. The problem is, they feel the same way about Donald Trump. So when this administration pulled off one of the most successful operations of the year, putting to death a man who'd killed and maimed hundreds of Americans, Democrats weren't about to be reasonable about the threat he'd just neutralized. It's a "reckless move," Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued. Like tossing a "stick of dynamite into a tinder box," insisted Joe Biden. Funny, Fox News's Dan Bongino fired back, "I don't remember anyone saying that [eliminating] Osama bin Laden was... 'dangerously escalating the situation.'"
Neither does Nikki Haley. The former U.N. ambassador couldn't believe the Left's hypocrisy, telling Sean Hannity, "The only ones [who] are mourning the loss of Soleimani are our Democrat leadership, and our Democrat presidential candidates." Despite the fact, as our own Lt. General Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army-Ret.) points out, that Soleimani was just about the most brutal man in the Middle East right now. "He's the most powerful man [in Iran]," he reminded listeners on "Washington Watch." "And he is also, as far as I am concerned -- and I think many analysts would agree -- the world's leading terrorist. He is a guy that introduced the enhanced IED into Iraq and into Afghanistan. That's the [explosive device] that took off the legs and the arms and body parts are so many of our American soldiers." The irresponsible decision, as far as our former special operations commander is concerned, would've been to not take him out.
What most people don't understand about Soleimani is not just that he murdered Americans -- but how influential he was over the entire Middle East theater. "He was the puppet master," General Boykin explains about his power over the militias in both Iran and Iraq. "He was the one that not only orchestrated their funding, but also orchestrated a great deal of their... their weapons or ammunition and so forth, and then gave them directions in terms of what they were to do." In other words, the United States has been sending funds to the Iraqi government in Baghdad to rebuild national security and infrastructure. A large part of the national security has been provided through various militias, the Shia dominate militias have been directed by Gen. Soleimani. These militias have been one of, if not the, top obstacle to religious minorities returning to their homes and communities.
So while U.S. celebrities make fools of themselves apologizing to Iran for American's actions, heroes like Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) firmly believe this president has nothing to be sorry for. As a combat surgeon, he's seen Soleimani's carnage firsthand. "For those of us who have served and have endured the loss of troops... it's personal to us at this point," he said. "When you have soldiers that were with you at breakfast one day and later in the day, you get them back in, they're [dead]... So when people talk about this, this is not just numbers. There are 608 Americans [who] were killed by this man. And he's been killing all around the world."
We've tried diplomacy, Brad pointed out. We've gathered intelligence and used economic sanctions. Now, we turn to the military, which as General Boykin was quick to say, Obama did too.
"It might be helpful to our listeners to know that Donald Trump is not the first one [who's] used drone strikes against terrorists on foreign soil. In fact, President Barack Obama used them extensively. In fact, in Yemen, he took out Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was linked to terrorism... I never heard the Left talk about [that] assassination, particularly [since it was] an assassination of an American citizen. It wasn't an issue. They applauded him for it. This is a double standard. The president has the authority to do what he did. Even Jay Johnson, the former Homeland Security secretary, has come out very publicly now and [agreed]."
When a president -- any president -- takes decisive action that saves American lives, we should applaud them. Conservatives praised Barack Obama when he protected this nation from terrorists and militants, because we respect the decision to make national security a top priority. Donald Trump stood up to Iran and sent a warning to the world that we will not tolerate anyone who takes their hatred of the West out on Americans. Democrats should be grateful. "We have a president that says we're not going to have another hostage situation at our embassy like in 1979, which was miserable for America. And we're not going to have another Benghazi, where there was no rescue attempt from the previous administration," Rep. Wenstrup said. "This administration says we will protect American interests, we will protect Americans, and especially our diplomats. And we're going to take action against the person that has caused this."
Tony Perkins's Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.
