Rachel Maddow Shows How Trump Is Letting Putin Run U.S. Foreign Policy

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Rachel Maddow keyed in on how Donald Trump appears to be letting Russian president Vladimir Putin run U.S. foreign policy.

To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.

A day after the president announced a sudden withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Syria, the White House said it would be pulling 7,000 troops from Afghanistan.

As the MSNBC host pointed out, that decision came hours after Putin commented on how the U.S. has maintained a presence in Afghanistan.

Video:

Maddow said:

As soon as [Putin] was asked about that decision by President Trump to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, the way he responded was by praising that decision but then immediately pivoting. He said well, basically, we think it is good news. We’re happy that he’s pulling out of Syria. We’ll believe it when we see it, though. The United States has been in Afghanistan for 17 years, and they always say they’re withdrawing there. That was his pivot today. Within hours, The Wall Street Journal was first to report that President Trump has also ordered about half the U.S. troops in Afghanistan, about 7,000 troops, home right now. Within weeks. Another sudden announcement today on top of the sudden announcement yesterday about the unilateral and complete withdraw from Syria.

Trump is letting Putin call the shots

On Wednesday, Trump made a sudden and thoughtless decision via Twitter to pull troops from Syria. It was a move that likely had U.S. adversaries, including Russia and Iran, popping the champaign.

On Thursday, hours after Putin mused about how the U.S. continues to remain in Afghanistan even after promising to leave, Trump announced half of the American troops would be leaving the region.

It’s becoming clear that the best way to predict U.S. policy is to just listen to what Vladimir Putin is saying.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.