Speaking about his administration’s infrastructure initiative to members of Local 18 of the International Union of Operating Engineers in Richfield, Ohio on March 29, President Trump surprised the nation by saying: “We’ll be coming out of Syria … very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon. Very soon, we’re coming out.”
The main purpose of the president’s talk was to detail some of the key accomplishments his administration had made in improving America’s infrastructure. This topic is especially important to workers in what has been called the nation’s “rust belt” — states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, where important industries have gone into decline during recent decades. Trump did unexpectedly well in the region surrounding the Great Lakes in the 2016 presidential election as residents such as these union workers in Ohio, who were once considered solidly Democratic voters, supported him in large numbers.
Trump acknowledged this fact early on in his talk, stating: “Your support has been amazing. Your support has been so great, right from the beginning.” He went on to tell the union members:
Joined by our friends here in Ohio, my administration is fighting every day to protect, and defend, and grow American jobs. And you see what’s happening all over the country. It’s in Ohio, but it’s all over the country — pouring back plants and factories, pouring back into our country. They can’t come back fast enough.
Trump went on to talk about plans to rebuild America’s infrastructure, saying: “And now, with our friends in Ohio, we’re launching the next phase of America’s economic comeback. We’re going to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure.”
The president’s transition into his statement about bringing home U.S. troops from Syria very soon began with his remarks about the vast expenditures the United States has made defending other countries when those funds are needed at home. He said:
In recent years, Americans have watched as Washington spent trillions and trillions of dollars building up foreign countries while allowing our own country’s infrastructure to fall into a state of total disrepair. Look at Korea. We have a border at Korea. We have a wall of soldiers. We don’t get paid very much for this, do we? …
Think of it. We spend billions and billions of dollars. Look, North and South Korea — 32,000 soldiers, the finest equipment, barbed wire all over the place. We protect that whole thing. Nobody comes through. But our country, we don’t do it.
Things are changing, folks. But now is the time to rebuild our country, to take care of our people, and to fight for our great American workers for a change.
Trump then went on to talk about Syria and how he wanted to spend some of that money being spent in Syria to improve the infrastructure in places such as Ohio:
We spent — and I was against it from the beginning. They try and say, “Well, maybe not.” I was against it from the beginning. And, by the way, we’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. [Applause.] Very soon. Very soon, we’re coming out. We’re going to have 100 percent of the caliphate, as they call it — sometimes referred to as “land.” We’re taking it all back quickly. Quickly. But we’re going to be coming out of there real soon. We’re going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.
But just think of it: We spent, as of three months ago, $7 trillion — not billion, not million — $7 trillion, with a “T” — nobody ever heard of the word “trillion” until 10 years ago. We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. We’d build a school; they’d blow it up. We’d build it again; they’d blow it up. We’d build it again; hasn’t been blown up yet, but it will be.
But if we want a school in Ohio to fix the windows, you can’t get the money. If you want a school in Pennsylvania or Iowa to get federal money, you can’t get the money. We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing….
We spent $7 trillion, but we barely have money for the infrastructure. We have to fight for our military. But we’re becoming so strong again. And you watch. We’re not going to take very long.
Trump supporters who were attracted by his anti-interventionist rhetoric during last year’s presidential campaign will be delighted by the president’s latest remarks in Ohio. However, in an article for The New American last year, we observed that a number of writers for publications spanning the political spectrum expressed the view that the U.S. mission in Syria is aimed at toppling the regime of Bashar al-Assad instead of defeating the ISIS terrorists.
If those assertions were valid, does Trump’s latest statement mean that U.S. foreign policy has changed and Trump is now content to leave Assad in power and follow through on his promise to get out of Syria very soon?
Even if that comes about, there is the matter of the thousands of other U.S. troops stationed around the world to defend nations other than our own. In his speech, Trump mentioned that Americans have watched as Washington spent trillions and trillions of dollars building up foreign countries — many more countries than just Syria — and he noted that we have “a wall of soldiers along the border between North and South Korea. He said:
Think of it. We spend billions and billions of dollars. Look, North and South Korea — 32,000 soldiers, the finest equipment, barbed wire all over the place. We protect that whole thing. Nobody comes through. But our country, we don’t do it.
And yet, Trump said nothing about bringing home those 32,000 soldiers from South Korea — not soon, or ever.
If the president is truly worried about spending billions and billions of dollars to protect counties such as South Korea — money that might be better used to improve our own infrastructure — then he will develop a plan to bring home these 32,000 soldiers. Maybe they could be deployed along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep out the illegal aliens that Trump often speaks of.
Photo: AP Images
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Citing Possible False Flag, Trump Launches Illegal War on Syria
After Trump’s Syria Attack, What Comes Next?
Many of Trump’s Staunchest Allies Feel Betrayed by Syria Attack
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