Op-ed by Summer Lane | Photo: Alamy
On Sunday, news broke that at least three American servicemembers had been killed and more than 40 were wounded in a drone attack at a United States military installation in Jordan. While the nation mourned, President Donald Trump issued a solemn statement extending his “profound sympathies” for the families of the heroes who fell in the heinous attacks.
He wrote, “I ask all Americans to join me in praying for those who have been wounded. This brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender.”
Indeed, Joe Biden’s legacy of surrender began in earnest in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal, which delivered billions of dollars of military equipment on a silver platter to the Taliban and resulted in the tragic loss of 13 honorable United States troops.
It’s impossible to assess the violent landscape of the Middle East and the entire world today without comparing it to what the world was like just three short years ago when Trump was in office.
Under Trump, the world was notably calmer. No new wars broke out. Historic peace deals were inked. In the Middle East especially, Trump was the first president in decades to cut through the senseless violence and bring a hefty dose of common sense to the table.
In light of the bloodshed and tragedy that is escalating in the Middle East today, the world has never needed a return to America First policies more than it has right now.
Trump authorized the termination of radical terrorist Qasem Soleimani
Perhaps the most admirable aspect of President Trump’s term in the White House was his no-holds-barred approach to dealing with America’s enemies. In early January 2020, he announced that under his direction, the U.S. military had eliminated Soleimani, “the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world.”
His address on the issue was cut-and-dried:
“Under my leadership, America’s policy is unambiguous: To terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American, we will find you; we will eliminate you. We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans, and our allies.”
With Trump, there was no hint of weakness, only solid, unflinching strength. It was a language that even the world’s toughest bad guys could understand, and it kept chaos at bay for four years.
Trump was rightfully tough on Iran
The Biden administration forked over $6 billion to Iran last year in a disastrously weak prisoner swap agreement. In October 2023, Hamas launched a full-scale attack on Israel. In November 2023, the House passed a resolution to attempt to block Iran’s access to those funds, per the Associated Press.
In short, Biden has failed to take a strong stance against Iran and, in doing so, has directly projected an image of American weakness on the world stage.
By contrast, Trump was firm with Iran while he was president. In 2020, he promised to hit hard and fast against the terrorist-tied country if they made a move against USA assets as “revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime…”
He warned, “Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”
Trump didn’t mess around. He got down to business, and Iran bent the knee to American peace through strength.
In his latest statement, President Trump pointed out, “Three years ago, Iran was weak, broke, and totally under control. Thanks to my Maximum Pressure policy, the Iranian Regime could barely scrape two dollars together to fund their terrorist proxies.”
Now, Biden’s feckless weakness has emboldened America’s enemies and put the lives of our military servicemembers and our civilians in danger.
Trump wiped out ISIS
In 2019, pre-dating the termination of Soleimani, Trump told American troops in Alaska that “100 percent” of ISIS had been wiped out by U.S. military might. In December 2018, he preceded that announcement with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, per ABC.
In the face of common sense American military strength, terrorism on the world stage shrunk significantly for the first time since before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Unlike former President George W. Bush, Trump recognized the damage that endless foreign wars were doing to the country and focused on tying up every loose end in the Middle East that he could while in office.
The Afghanistan withdrawal would have been handled differently in 2021 if Trump had overseen the operation. Americans can be sure of that.
Trump struck the historic Abraham Accords
In what was possibly the crown jewel of President Trump’s foreign policy accomplishments, he brokered the astonishing Abraham Accords in 2020, which cemented diplomacy between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Israel.
According to Politico, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu foreshadowed President Trump’s determination to continue inking peace deals across the globe.
He stated, “And you have heard from the president that he is already lining up more and more countries. This is unimaginable a few years ago. But with resolve, determination [and] a fresh look at the way peace is done, this is being achieved.”
Nobody has ever done it like Trump, and it’s hard to imagine that anybody else ever will.
Worldwide chaos never would have happened under Trump
Even the most casual observer can see that the world is a much different place than it was in 2020 when the Trump administration took out Soleimani, wiped ISIS off the map, and ushered in historic peace in the Middle East.
Now, three more American heroes have lost their lives. War rages in the deserts of the Middle East and the streets of war-torn Ukraine and Russia. China is steadily growing more powerful and extending its reach.
President Trump explained it succinctly on Sunday, writing, “This attack would NEVER have happened if I was President, not even a chance – Just like the Iranian-backed Hamas attack on Israel would never have happened, the War in Ukraine would never have happened, and we would right now have Peace throughout the World. Instead, we are on the brink of World War 3.”
He odiously concluded, “Our Country cannot survive with Joe Biden as Commander in Chief.”
The fate of the nation and the world at large hinges upon the results of the November 2024 election, where Americans will have one final shot at electing a man who could bring peace instead of war, common sense instead of confusion, and peaceful strength instead of disorganized weakness.
