Televangelist Pat Robertson said President Trump is at risk of “losing the mandate of heaven” over his decision to draw back troops from northern Syria and allow Turkey to move into the region.
The 89-year-old 700 Club host, who is an evangelical ally of the president, joined other prominent conservatives Monday to condemn the move, which will likely result in the deaths of Kurdish forces who helped the United States fight the Islamic State.
Robertson said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a “thug” who has become a dictator in Turkey. He said the Turkish strongman is no ally of the U.S.
He evoked the brutal murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who resided in Virginia and was killed last year in the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Turkey.
“The president who allowed Khashoggi to be cut in pieces without any repercussions whatsoever is now allowing the Christians and the Kurds to be massacred by the Turks,” Robertson said. “And I believe — and I want to say this with great solemnity — the president of the United States is in danger of losing the mandate of heaven if he permits this to happen.”
Following the Sunday announcement that the U.S. would be moving troops out, there was backlash from both Democrats and many Republicans who are typically supportive of Trump.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called for bipartisan sanctions against Turkey if the country invades Syria and said he will call to suspend Turkey’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization if it attacks Kurdish forces there.
Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the decision “a big mistake.”
