Trump Responds to Senate Rebuke on Troop Withdrawals

On Thursday, senators sent a clear message to President Trump: They think his plan to pull US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan is dangerously hasty. On Friday, Trump pushed back with a pair of tweets, reports Politico. "I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the 'Endless Wars' of unlimited spending and death," he wrote. He made the case that the US military has hit ISIS and al-Qaeda so successfully that "it is now time to start coming home and, after many years, spending our money wisely."

In Thursday's bipartisan rebuke, the Senate advanced an amendment warning that drawing down troops in both countries would allow terrorist groups to regroup. "ISIS and al-Qaeda have yet to be defeated," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said before the vote, per the AP. Trump disagrees. "Syria was loaded with ISIS until I came along," he wrote Friday. "We will soon have destroyed 100% of the Caliphate, but will be watching them closely." (After public friction, Trump downplayed disagreements with his intelligence chiefs.)