Donald Trump’s ugly rhetoric about the attack in Jordan is intended to persuade people who don\u2019t remember what actually happened when he was in office.<\/b>
\nOn Sunday afternoon, Americans learned that a drone packed with explosives struck a base in northeast Jordan, near the Syria border. The attack killed three U.S. troops \u2014 Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett \u2014 and left more than 30 with injuries.
Also on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump used his social media platform to express his sympathies for the fatalities \u2014 while blaming President Joe Biden for the actions of terrorists. From his trio of missives:
\u201cThis brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden\u2019s weakness and surrender. … This attack would NEVER have happened if I was President, not even a chance.\u201d
The former president added that his approach would mean \u201cno more chaos, no more destruction, and no more loss of precious American lives.\u201d
Part of the problem is with the Republican\u2019s character and instincts. It\u2019s as if Trump learned the news over the weekend and effectively thought to himself, \u201cThree American troops were killed. How can I exploit this to advance my own interests and brag about how great I think I am?\u201d
Basic human decency usually prevents honorable people from politicizing deadly terrorist attacks. It\u2019s a simple lesson the presumptive GOP nominee prefers not to learn.
But in terms of factual details, Trump\u2019s claim that such an attack \u201cnever\u201d would\u2019ve happened if he were in office, reality tells a very different story. As a New York Times report explained, \u201cIn fact, Iran and its proxies did attack American and allied interests during Mr. Trump\u2019s presidency.\u201d
In March 2020, for example, two American service members and a British soldier were killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq, and the U.S. believed Iran-backed militia groups were most likely behind the assault. A few months earlier, a barrage of rockets killed an American contractor and wounded four American service members in Kirkuk, Iraq.
NBC News reported in September 2020, in the months that followed, militia groups \u2014 believed to be backed by Iran \u2014 continued to target U.S. military bases, and the frequency of those attacks increased throughout Trump\u2019s final year in the White House.
What\u2019s more, let\u2019s also not forget that in January 2020, an Iranian missile strike left several dozen of U.S. troops with traumatic brain injuries. Trump dismissed the importance of the injuries \u2014 the Republican called them little more than \u00ab\u00a0headaches\u00a0\u00bb \u2014 prompting Veterans of Foreign Wars to ask the then-president to apologize for minimizing what had happened to the troops.
Trump ignored the VFW\u2019s appeal.
My point is not to blame Trump for the attacks that occurred on his watch. Rather, my point is that when Trump tries to blame his own country\u2019s leaders for foreign terrorism, and says such violence would \u201cnever\u201d happen if he were in office, we know this is ugly and unnecessary nonsense, intended to persuade people who don\u2019t remember what happened just four years ago.<\/p>\n