Trump's most vocal allies disagree with Syria pullout

President Donald Trump's announcement that he is withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria in the face of a Turkey-versus-Kurds battle took everyone by surprise, and now comes the debate over such a move.

Responding to Trump's announcement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says pulling U.S. troops out of Syria will leave our Kurdish allies in the region at the mercy of their long-time antagonist Turkey, a NATO member now viewed as a once-moderate Islamic nation currently ruled by authoritarian president Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured above).

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the president’s strongest defenders in the Senate, called Trump’s order an “impulsive decision” that has “undone all the gains” made in the region against ISIS.  

“I like President Trump. I've tried to help him,” Graham told reporters. “This, to me, is just unnerving to its core.”

According to NBC News, Trump made the decision after talking by phone with Erdogan, who is preparing his country to attack Kurdish forces that have been helping the U.S. beat back Islamic State fighters. 

Military analyst Bob Maginnis of the Family Research Council says although Sen. Graham is right about strategy and objectives, what is unfolding is a political decision.

“I don't disagree with the president that we need to choose where we are going to shed blood and spend our treasure,” Maginnis tells OneNewsNow. “He's made the assessment, which is his right as the president, that we no longer need to be, at this point, in Syria.”

If Maginnis was advising Trump, he adds, he would have recommended remaining in Syria.