Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump's false claim that Russia and Iran are "unhappy" about Trump's decision to pull American troops out of Syria.
"Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says," Trump tweeted Thursday morning, "because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us. I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!"
Graham, normally an ally of the president, swiftly corrected Trump's baseless claim.
"It is not FAKE NEWS that Russia, Iran, and Assad are unhappy about our decision to withdraw from Syria," Graham wrote. "They are ECSTATIC!"
In a second tweet, Graham warned against Trump's orders, which "outsource the fight to Russia, Iran, and [Syrian President Bashar al] Assad," who "do not have America's best interests at heart."
Trump's tweet is the definition of fake news.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded Trump's proposed troop withdrawal at his annual year-end news conference.
“On this, Donald is right. I agree with him," Putin said. “If the United States decided to withdraw its force, then this would be right."
Many people fired back at Graham for not having done more to manage Trump's recklessness.
People also went after Trump directly.
Putin referring to Trump by his first name - something Trump hates and is a sign of dominance - shows who is really running the show.
"No collusion."
Trump stunned the political world Wednesday when he announced the withdrawal of American troops from war-torn Syria on Twitter and declaring victory over ISIS.
"We have defeated ISIS in Syria," the president tweeted, "my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency."
Trump’s proclamation followed reporting from The Washington Post & Wall Street Journal signaling that the president plans on removing 2,000 troops from northern Syria.
On Thursday, Trump defended his decision to pull out of Syria, noting that he campaigned on ending American entanglements in the Middle East (he did, but he has no actual plan to ensure the stability of Syria or the safety of our Kurdish allies).
"Getting out of Syria was no surprise," Trump tweeted. "I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there [sic] work. Time to come home & rebuild."
Twitter pounced on Trump's typo.
We need more popcorn.
@CalltoActivism/X
@cchaplin59/X
@mmpadellan/X
@IBleedOrange1/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social