Presidents come, presidents go — but they all end up launching military airstrikes on the Middle East. Last night Joe Biden ordered his first big missile sally, a retaliatory strike in Syria. American air forces dropped seven 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions at a crossing used by Iranian-backed militia groups, reportedly killing 17.
Boom! America is back, baby, as Joe Biden never ceases to remind us. Except, when it comes to legally and strategically dubious maneuvers in the Middle East, America never really went away. Trump launched tit-for-tat air strikes on Iranian-backed proxies, just as Obama did before him. What does change, however, is how Democrats react to such moves. We can see it all the hypocrisy-exposing time-machine that is Twitter.
Here is how Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary responded to Trump’s missile strikes in 2017:
Also what is the legal authority for strikes? Assad is a brutal dictator. But Syria is a sovereign country.
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) April 7, 2017
And here is how the legendary foreign-policy expert Kamala Harris, now Vice President, reacted when Trump struck Syria again in 2018 in response to reported atrocities perpetuated by the Syrian government:
The president needs to lay out a comprehensive strategy in Syria in consultation with Congress — and he needs to do it now.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 14, 2018
Last but not least, here is Joe Biden throwing in his two-cents worth on foreign policy after Donald Trump toyed with a strike on Iran in 2019:
Trump’s erratic, impulsive actions are the last thing we need as Commander-in-Chief. No president should order a military strike without fully understanding the consequences. We don’t need another war in the Middle East, but Trump’s actions toward Iran only make that more likely.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 23, 2019
What’s changed, guys? We all know the answer — almost nothing except the man giving the orders. America is still meddling dangerously with Syria, Iraq and Iran, without any clear or coherent strategy. The difference is that when Trump did it, Democrat World called him erratic and foolish and the pundit class all nodded sagely in agreement. When Biden does it — well, people, that’s American leadership.
