"We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam,
Now we're wondering what they were dying for."
-- Bruce Springsteen, "Youngstown"
This is the second entry in a series on Trump's strategic missteps. The first, "A Redistricting Plan Unravels," is linked here.
From 1975, Presidents stayed clear of long-term, open-ended conflicts. Even major events like our embassy staff in Iran being taken hostage were not enough to draw them into armed conflict without a clear exit strategy and broad public support. That all changed on September 11, 2001. Having suffered the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, George W. Bush committed the United States to two major wars.
Our invasion of Afghanistan was the easiest to justify, given that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were planned from within its borders. Still, the Soviet Union's own ten-year quagmire in the country should have given us pause. A clear exit strategy should have been established before the first shot was fired. Instead, we entered the conflict with force but without a defined sense of what victory would ultimately mean.
Iraq was even less justifiable. Not only did this country have nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, but Iraq's leaders were ideological religious opponents of those who carried out the attacks. The reason given for the attacks, that the country had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), was unfounded and ultimately disproven. Adding to the concern were warnings that opening a second, unrelated front in the war on terror would divert attention and resources from achieving success in Afghanistan.
The wars continued through both of Bush's terms, though he negotiated a withdrawal timetable for U.S. forces in Iraq in 2008. Implementing that agreement would fall to his successor, Barack Obama, but would not be completed until 2011. However, Afghanistan continued to drag on, with troops still in harm's way when Obama left office after two terms.
"Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!"
-- Donald Trump, August 21, 2012
Even before he descended his golden escalator into presidential politics, Trump had been a long-time critic of the continuing war in Afghanistan. As he campaigned to succeed Obama, the reality-television star tapped into the public's frustration with what had become America's longest-lasting armed conflict and positioned himself as the candidate who would finally bring the troops home.
Except he didn't.
The war in Afghanistan continued throughout Trump's entire first term, though he did negotiate a withdrawal agreement that he left for Biden to carry out. When the agreement culminated in a chaotic and deadly exit, Trump placed the blame entirely on his successor, taking no responsibility for the shortcomings of the deal he had signed.
In addition to the continuing war in Afghanistan, Trump oversaw thousands of military actions during his first term. He ignored this record during the 2024 campaign as he crafted an alternate reality in which he alone could bring peace to the world, even claiming he would end the Russian"'Ukrainian war within 24 hours.
In his words, electing Kamala Harris was a "gamble with the lives of millions," and she would "get us into World War III, guaranteed."
After winning the election on a promise of peace, Trump quickly authorized more military actions in his first year back in office than Biden had during his entire term. He has already ordered strikes across more countries than any other recent president, a stark contrast to the image he projected on the campaign trail.
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