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Last updated on February 4th, 2019 at 01:39 pm

Trump claimed that it didn’t matter if ISIS reclaimed lost territory in Iraq and Syria because the US has fast planes and can fly troops back in.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because the concern in here by your intelligence chiefs, though, is that you could in that vacuum see a resurgence of ISIS.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Sure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: See a resurgence of terror groups like Al-Qaeda–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And you know what we’ll do? We’ll come back if we have to. We have very fast airplanes, we have very good cargo planes. We can come back very quickly, and I’m not leaving. We have a base in Iraq and the base is a fantastic edifice. I mean I was there recently, and I couldn’t believe the money that was spent on these massive runways. And these- I’ve rarely seen anything like it. And it’s there. And we’ll be there. And frankly, we’re hitting the caliphate from Iraq and as we slowly withdraw from Syria. Now the other thing–

Video:

.@realDonaldTrump says “we’ll come back if we have to” when @margbrennan asks about a potential resurgence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, “We have very fast airplanes, we have very good cargo planes. We can come back very quickly.” pic.twitter.com/cEaC0i8Qk1

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 3, 2019

Putin wants the US out of Syria

Trump’s attitude of being able to fly troops back in quickly hides the real point of his withdrawal. Putin wants the US forces out of Syria. If the US pulls out of Syria and Iraq intelligence officials, say that ISIS will regain the territory that it lost in 6-12 months. To liberate that territory again, Trump will have to send more troops and shed more blood than would be necessary if he would leave current US forces in place.

Putin wants the US out, so Trump is going to give Putin what he wants.

Trump doesn’t care that he is jeopardizing national security

Republicans in the Senate voted against Trump’s Syria withdrawal. Trump is creating a serious national security threat by strengthening terrorists. This is all happening because Trump wants to make Putin happy and be able to claim that he defeated ISIS and brought US troops home during his reelection campaign. The US can’t fly some troops in to fight a war and then fly them home.

Trump is making America less safe, and showing that the biggest threat to US national security is his presence in the Oval Office.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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