Compare media coverage during the 21st century. When Bush took over, everything was about military and foreign engagements every day. As Obama reigned, our foreign intervention actions were still the most frequent topics, even if the media tried to underplay the depth of his failure.
Since Trump accepted the post, media coverage of international conflict has plummeted. They talk a lot about North Korea, but there are no active engagements there. The reason for the shift is that Trump’s military actions have been so phenomenally successful that even covering the stories would have to acknowledge his effective leadership. Let’s break it down.
ISIS
ISIS is easily and clearly one of Obama’s greatest failures as President. His “JV” comments will live in infamy. Still, at least two years before he left his post, he acknowledged ISIS as the leading terrorist threat in the world. With two years of acknowledgement and action, Obama saw ISIS grow. His efforts completely failed to contain them, and they reached the peak of their power in 2016.
Trump said on the campaign trail that he could defeat ISIS in a week. That was obviously intended as hyperbole, but by and large, his strategy had the Islamic State routed and destroyed in less than a year. Today, ISIS is not considered a caliphate and they hold no significant territory. They still exist as an organization, and they should not be underestimated, but they no longer reign over millions.
Al Qaeda
When Obama took office, the U.S. still had a massive military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. Al Qaeda was the largest and most dangerous terrorist organization in the world at that point, but they had lost significant power from their peak reign before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
Obama worked fervently to pull troops out of Iraq, and he had complete success before he was re-elected. That withdrawal effectively relieved pressure on Al Qaeda, and by the time Trump took office last year, Al Qaeda was nearing all-time levels of recruitment and activity.
This year, Trump has refocused efforts on defeating Al Qaeda, and just as was seen with ISIS, Trump’s strategy is making fast ground. Al Qaeda leaders have been killed at an unprecedented rate, and recruitment has plummeted to the floor. Security in Afghanistan is finally returning, and if the rate of success continues, Al Qaeda will be as diminished as ISIS was by the end of this year.
Syria
If there is anything Obama might have handled as badly as ISIS, it’s the civil war in Syria. His unwillingness to commit to decisions or draw hard lines enabled Russia to successfully keep Assad in power. Millions have died as a consequence, and U.S. backed forces only lost ground during Obama’s presidency, culminating in their complete exit from Aleppo.
Trump was President for an impressively short time when he switched the script. He annihilated the bulk of Assad’s air force in a single attack, and international backlash was nonexistent. Trump has enabled U.S. operations within Syria’s borders to act more decisively, and recently, U.S. forces engaged Russian-led forces. The result was a bloodbath. More than 200 Russians and their allies were killed in a day of fighting. The U.S. reported no casualties. American soldiers once again demonstrated that they are the deadliest fighting force in the world.
Why Obama Failed
Let’s check the scoreboard. Trump’s military is mighty and wins quickly. The entire world once again fears the United States. Obama’s military was bumbling, indecisive and almost exclusively lost ground on every front. A lot of people speculate as to why, but even mainstream media has begrudgingly admitted that Trump’s military is getting the job done.
Some say Obama failed because he was under too much pressure to de-escalate America’s foreign intervention policy. Obama started five additional battle fronts while he was President. That’s the most ever, and it puts to the lie the idea that Obama backed off to appease anti-war supporters.
Others contest that Obama’s priorities were minimizing civilian and U.S. casualties. That commitment to caution slowed U.S. action and explained his failure. Well, Obama scored almost three times as many civilian casualties as Bush, so that argument also fails.
The real truth is that Obama failed on purpose. He worked to defund the military throughout his tenure, and seeing them continue to fail in their operations was seen as justification to further slash funding. It’s also likely that he made under-the-table deals with foreign powers to prevent the U.S. military from successfully stopping internationally condemned aggression. Leaked footage of him talking with Russian diplomats and the general nature of the Iran deal suggest as much.
Why Trump Wins
As fun as it is to give credit to Trump, his military successes have nothing to do with brilliant leadership or strategy. When he said he had a plan to defeat ISIS, it was the simplest plan imaginable: let the military do their job. The different results garnered by the two Presidents show that the only thing our military needed to succeed was a chance to utilize their expertise.
When Trump took over, all he did was walk away from Obama’s practice of actively stifling military success. The changes were immediate and the results speak for themselves. Trump’s successful military, more than anything else, shows how much effort Obama had to devote keep our armed forces from winning engagements and destroying our enemies.
We often talk about how Obama worked against America’s best interests. You don’t need deep-state documents and turncoat informants to prove that it happened. You merely need to compare Obama’s America to Trump’s. One President couldn’t jumpstart the economy, win foreign engagements or negotiate international deals even while spending more money than anyone before.
All Trump had to do to win was stop getting in America’s way. It’s worked great so far, and we can expect it to keep working. He didn’t campaign on making Americans great again. We already had what we needed.
