Few lawmakers or TV pundits supported President Trump last month when he instructed the Pentagon to remove troops from Syria and halve their number in Afghanistan. But Trump’s decision earned him applause from an unlikely source: anti-war activists.
“If the decision is the right decision, does it matter who makes it?” said former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, an anti-war advocate who sued then-President Barack Obama over the 2011 intervention in Libya.
“The reflexive attack on President Trump because of his decision to withdraw troops from Syria really needs to be reconsidered in light of what the current interests are of our country,” Kucinich said. “I think that President Trump made a wise decision because the presence of our troops in the region makes them very vulnerable and increases the potential of getting our troops in a broader war.”
Trump received broad bipartisan criticism over his decision to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where they have been stationed since 2001, and to remove them from Syria, where a bombing campaign in 2014 evolved into about 2,000 troops on the ground.
Leading the pushback was Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned in protest.
But there was jubilation in other corners of the political spectrum where praise for the president’s policies is usually rare.
“I have been surprised and pleased,” said Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, an anti-war fixture in Washington known for disrupting congressional hearings. “I have also been appalled by the way people, both Democrats, Republicans, and the media, have ganged up on him, falsely calling the decision reckless and dangerous.”
“This was something he had talked about way back on the campaign trail, but I thought that once in power, the pressure of the ‘war lobby’ would stop him,” Benjamin said, expressing fear that this may still happen.
On Capitol Hill, Trump was defended most prominently by anti-interventionist Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as well as by some Democrats, though not always by name.
“The hysterical reaction to the decision to withdraw troops from Syria is astonishing [and] shows just how attached to war some are,” tweeted Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.
“Here’s something that the mainstream media has left out when talking about Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from Syria: Congress never authorized sending troops to Syria,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
For many left-wing peace activists, distrust in Trump remains, even as he appears to fulfill campaign vows to avoid military involvement in the Middle East.
“The anti-war movement cannot relax or retire yet,” said Cindy Sheehan, the activist who staged a long-running Iraq War protest outside former President George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas.
“I am afraid President Trump’s proposals for troop withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan are not withdrawals, but realignments or reassignments,” she said.
Walter Smolarek, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, which staged the largest organized protest along Trump’s inaugural parade route, said, “We do not think that Trump deserves praise for these decisions,” as he believes the policies are so widely supported by the public that endorsing them required little courage.
“That being said, we think that the criticism coming from opponents of the withdrawal, including people who falsely present themselves as progressive, is outrageous war-mongering,” he said. “Yet again, the Democratic Party is trying to oppose Donald Trump from the Right, not the Left.”
Smolarek said the ANSWER Coalition, whose acronym stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, opposes other Trump Mideast policies and notes Trump has committed to keeping troops in Iraq.
“We do not trust Donald Trump one iota,” Smolarek said.
Kucinich was more charitable.
“President Trump’s decision on Syria has to be judged in light of the best interests of the American people, the best interest of our troops, the best interest of world peace. And all are served by his decision,” Kucinich said.
