Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) has finally found a war he doesn't like. During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said that "the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip" and send troops "if it's necessary." Graham, who's been a consistent advocate of U.S. military intervention overseas, told CNN that "most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza."
A few hours later, NBC News reported that the U.S. Department of Defense was drawing up plans to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, where the United States has around 2,000 troops deployed to fight the Islamic State group. Trump told reporters last month, "We're not involved in Syria. Syria is in its own mess. They've got enough messes over there. They don't need us involved."
It's a strange, confusing beginning to the second Trump administration. While planning to get out of one conflict in the Middle East, the president is talking about sending American forces into a much larger adventure next door. Trump, who won his first election by crushing the architects of the Iraq War within the Republican Party, would be launching the first hostile U.S. occupation of an Arab country since then. Even pro-Israel hawks have been taken aback.
