American presidents are always challenged. Especially new ones. When Obama took office, he was forced to deal with troop reduction in Iraq, increased troop numbers in Afghanistan, NATO entering in Libya and Osama bin Laden to name just a few. George W. Bush's biggest challenge his first year was undoubtedly the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Each preceding presidency had their own as well. That is just the nature of being the strongest country in the world.
If one wants to be the leader of this country, he/she must be willing to act or at the very least respond with strength. This is a fact no matter what party the president represents. It is even more the case when a president spends all his time trying to get elected by bad mouthing and bragging about how tough he is.
Trump literally spent the entire election cycle of 2016 ranting about how weak America was under Obama. And when he wasn't speaking at rallies and debates about his perception of Obama's weakness, he was tweeting about it:
President Obama & Putin fail to reach deal on Syria - so what else is new? Obama is not a natural deal maker. Only makes bad deals!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2016
So, let's look at how Trump has done so far on national security.
General Michael Flynn
To begin with, he was forced to fire his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after it was discovered by the press that he had secretly made phone calls to the Russian ambassador assuring him that sanctions would be lifted once Trump took office. Flynn was also found to have been secretly working for Turkey while acting as Trump's adviser. In other words, the man Trump put in charge of America's national security was not only breaking the law, he was working in the interest of foreign countries. This is Trump's responsibility and his alone.
North Korea
North Korea has launched several missile tests since Trump took office. Many national security experts believe that they are getting closer to developing missiles that will be able to reach our west coast within four years. Trump's response? "It won't happen!" and North Korea's leader "is acting very, very badly." Great comeback, Donny.
Syria
Trump's response to Syria was initially to just let Russia and Assad do whatever they wanted to do. Trump's inability to lead has directly resulted in Assad's forces using gas on innocent civilians this week. His response? It "crosses many, many lines."
Chemical attack massacre kills, injures 100s of people in Syria. @RichardEngel reports.
WARNING: Disturbing images. https://t.co/tjgYV1XZrI— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) April 4, 2017
When asked about Syria just today, Trump's response was predictably weak. “He’s there, and I guess he’s running things so something should happen,” he said.
Ukraine
Trump's bromance with Putin not only caused our congress to be engulfed with investigations so that it cannot attend to the business of America, it has made him paralyzed when it comes to addressing Russia's war crimes. He wasn't even aware that Russia had already taken the Crimea or that the Crimea was part of the Ukraine! Every single day, Russian troops are shelling Ukrainian cities and murdering innocent civilians. There is a humanitarian crisis afoot in Ukraine with people unable to get food, water, shelter or medical supplies. Trump's response? Silence.
Trump is being tested. He is failing and that failure is ours as well.
