US ground troops fighting in Raqqa, Syria with "moderate" rebels.

[jvquarterback]

Well, the Trumpster is full of crap. But there you go. Same old, same old.

[SpiffCoug]

Well, the Trumpster is full of crap. But there you go. Same old, same old.

Trump was quite vocal during the campaign about wanting to destroy ISIS.

But yes, he is full of crap and this is the same old, same old. But this very much inline with what he said he'd do.

[BlueK]

Well, the Trumpster is full of crap. But there you go. Same old, same old.

Trump was quite vocal during the campaign about wanting to destroy ISIS.

But yes, he is full of crap and this is the same old, same old. But this very much inline with what he said he'd do.

Trump was on both sides of the fence during the campaign on this, and both sides I think heard only the part they wanted to. He is on record saying both that we should mostly steer clear of the middle east as well as being even more active there.

[BoiseBYU]

In the meantime, we have now spent $750,000,000,000 in Afghanistan, lost 2,400 of America's sons and daughters, with 30,000 more injured, in the longest war in American history and I wonder what is our overarching strategy?

[jvquarterback]

Well, the Trumpster is full of crap. But there you go. Same old, same old.

Trump was quite vocal during the campaign about wanting to destroy ISIS.

But yes, he is full of crap and this is the same old, same old. But this very much inline with what he said he'd do.

Trump was on both sides of the fence during the campaign on this, and both sides I think heard only the part they wanted to. He is on record saying both that we should mostly steer clear of the middle east as well as being even more active there.

Either way the US has no coherent end game to the morass of the middle east in general or Raqqa specifically. Will they give control to the Kurds and start a war between the Kurds and Turks? Will they give it to Assad and the Russians? If so the Russians and Syrians were going to take it anyway so why risk US soldiers? Are they going to set up a base for the next 200 years like John McCain would like? There is no viable option for the US here. That's what you get when you listen to people who make their living from war. More senseless war. And then more.

[BlueK]

Well, the Trumpster is full of crap. But there you go. Same old, same old.

Trump was quite vocal during the campaign about wanting to destroy ISIS.

But yes, he is full of crap and this is the same old, same old. But this very much inline with what he said he'd do.

Trump was on both sides of the fence during the campaign on this, and both sides I think heard only the part they wanted to. He is on record saying both that we should mostly steer clear of the middle east as well as being even more active there.

Either way the US has no coherent end game to the morass of the middle east in general or Raqqa specifically. Will they give control to the Kurds and start a war between the Kurds and Turks? Will they give it to Assad and the Russians? If so the Russians and Syrians were going to take it anyway so why risk US soldiers? Are they going to set up a base for the next 200 years like John McCain would like? There is no viable option for the US here. That's what you get when you listen to people who make their living from war. More senseless war. And then more.

All excellent points.

[SpiffCoug]

That's what you get when you listen to people who make their living from war. More senseless war. And then more.

But then after that we get more war, and then one more war. Of course that is usually followed by another war, and then maybe a final war before the war that really will be the last war.

[BlueK]

I used to work with a guy who was really into conspiracy theories, sites like Breitbart and other extreme right, and "alt-right" blogs, and of course a huge Trump guy from the beginning. It was affecting his view of reality. He thought Putin and Russia were really the good guys, that we can't really believe what we hear about North Korea -- for all we know it's a great place and the media is lying about it. (I told him to take a trip there and make sure to take a Bible with him to see what happens. It temporarily shook him back to the real world for a second, I think).

Anyway, he was also religious, but in a very apocalyptic way. Your comment about endless wars reminded me of this guy because I think people who buy into this stuff it seems go so far as cheering on world chaos and think it's good because maybe it means bringing on the second coming or something. My thinking is that's on God's timetable only and our responsibility as humans is to try as hard as we can to make the world a good place for as long as we can anyway.