If Americans (and our allies) had forgotten that the U.S. was once a feared and respected superpower, they got a rude awakening on Thursday night. Two days after Syria’s Bashar al-Assad used banned chemical weapons on his own people, President Trump showed Syria and the rest of the world that the might of the United States is back in play.
By striking at the heart of the Syrian air defense system, Trump restored America’s reputation as a fierce defender of human lives and rights.
Unlike Barack Obama, Donald Trump was not willing to twiddle his thumbs and chew his fingernails while a madman gassed innocent children. He stood up and took action. That’s the country the U.S. used to be. That’s the country the U.S. is once again, thanks to the November elections.
And yet, the action Trump took was mild compared to his options. Insiders report that Gen. James Mattis provided the president with an array of military options, and Trump chose the least invasive one on the table.
That’s called leadership. That’s called prudent action.
Trump isn’t interested in getting the U.S. involved in another long Middle Eastern war, but he’s not interested in allowing this kind of barbarism to go unpunished, either.
