Mitch McConnell Rebukes Syria and Afghanistan Withdrawals

The sole bright spot of the Trump administration since the 2018 midterms has been the announcement of troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan in December. That’s the only good thing that has happened in three months so naturally Mitch McConnell is trying to derail it:

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is poised to use a foreign policy bill to break with President Trump, saying on Tuesday that he will offer an amendment that would warn against a “precipitous withdrawal” of troops from either Syria or Afghanistan.

McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, said his proposal would “acknowledge the plain fact” that al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and their affiliates “pose a serious threat to us here in home.”

“It would recognize the danger of a precipitous withdrawal from either conflict and highlight the need for diplomatic engagement and political solutions to the underlying conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan,” McConnell said.

McConnell hadn’t formally filed the amendment as of early Tuesday afternoon.

But arguing that the U.S. government had seen the “downsides” of announcing that the U.S. military will “be gone on a certain date,” McConnell is using the amendment to urge Trump to maintain a footprint in both nations.

“My amendment would also urge continued commitment from the U.S. military and our partners until we have set the conditions for the enduring defeat of these vile terrorists,” he said. …”

Let’s review:

– Banning bump stocks

– Criminal Justice Reform

– No action on birthright citizenship

– Senate passing a clean CR

– Senate Republicans cave on the government shutdown

– Senate Republicans unanimously support the anti-BDS bill

– Roger Stone arrested by the FBI

– Condemning White Nationalism for the second time in two years

– New caravans continue to form and proceed to the US border

– Elliot Abrams hired to foment regime change in Venezuela

There can’t be a single deviation from conservative orthodoxy.