Trump Wants Credit for Strength After Deadly Failure

This is what real failure on the world stage looks like

Donald Trump just announced that the United States will retaliate against ISIS following an attack in Syria that killed two U.S. service members and a civilian interpreter.

Early this morning, U.S. forces supporting counter-ISIS operations were ambushed by a single ISIS gunman in Syria. Two American soldiers were killed. One civilian interpreter was killed. Three others were wounded. This is the deadliest attack on U.S. personnel in Syria in years.

ISIS is not gone. It never was.

Despite years of Trump and MAGA rhetoric claiming ISIS was “defeated,” the group is still operational, still lethal, and still capable of targeting U.S. forces. That reality alone completely shreds one of the core myths Trump supporters push every single day.

You hear it constantly.
“When Trump is in office, nobody dares test us.”
“He’s strong.”
“He’s feared.”

And yet here we are.

Not only were U.S. forces tested, Americans were killed. That is the opposite of deterrence.

Standing on the White House lawn, Trump confirmed that retaliation is coming. He said it plainly. Yes, the United States will retaliate against ISIS. Yes, further action is coming.

And to be clear, retaliation against ISIS is expected. When U.S. service members are killed, there must be a response, no serious person disputes that.

The concern is not whether there should be retaliation. The concern is what kind.

Because Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not exercise a steady or proportional hand on the world stage.

We have already seen this administration flirt with outright war in multiple regions. Trump has threatened no-fly zones over Venezuela. He has ordered strikes in the Caribbean. He has seized oil tankers. He has moved carriers aggressively. He has treated U.S. military power less like a scalpel and more like a blunt instrument used for political theater.

That matters here.

ISIS thrives on chaos. It thrives on overreaction. It thrives when instability grows, alliances fracture, and regional tensions escalate beyond control. A reckless or performative response does not weaken terrorism. It feeds it.

There is also a critical regional context that Trump barely seems to grasp.

Syria is in a fragile transitional moment following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime. The new Syrian leadership has condemned this attack and has expressed cooperation with U.S. forces. Syria recently joined the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. That is not nothing.

This attack very likely was designed to undermine that cooperation.

ISIS has a clear incentive to weaken U.S.–Syria relations, destabilize the region, and drag the United States into another prolonged escalation. That is the strategic reality we are dealing with.

And yet, less than twenty minutes after issuing a somber statement mourning the fallen, Trump followed it up with a joke about the Army-Navy game.

That timing matters too.

It speaks to impulse. It speaks to priorities. It speaks to a presidency that treats global crises as content windows instead of moments requiring discipline and restraint.

This tragedy should also permanently bury the idea that Trump is somehow uniquely skilled at foreign policy. He is not a deterrent. He is not respected. He is not feared in the way strong leaders are feared.

Vladimir Putin has escalated his war in Ukraine under Trump. Global leaders openly mock Trump’s false claims about ending wars that were never ended. Allies have been alienated by tariffs, insults, and threats. Diplomatic credibility has been burned for short-term applause lines.

Strength is not chaos.

Two American service members are dead. A civilian interpreter who supported U.S. operations is dead. Their families deserve seriousness, not bravado.

ISIS must be confronted. But it must be confronted intelligently, with coordination, and with an understanding of the broader geopolitical stakes.

Donald Trump has shown us repeatedly that those are not his strengths.

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