President Donald Trump has stirred up a hornet’s after he ordered an immediate pullout from northeastern Syria.  Maybe he could have been a bit more diplomatic. But are a thousand U.S. troops really going to make any major difference in the chaos taking place in this part of the world?

The bigger question is just how much involvement should the United States undertake in the Middle East?  We have been fighting endless wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and putting out never ending brushfires throughout this region for the past seventy years.  Some 20,000 American soldiers have lost their lives fitting in this region since 9/11.

After the longest war in the history of our country, it is time for our troops to return home. In 2001, the United States responded to the attacks of 9/11 by sending our military to Afghanistan on a mission to destroy Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.  We were successful in destroying their terrorist camps, killing and capturing Al-Qaeda leaders, and forcing Bin Laden out of the country.

Amazingly, we are still there. Of course, the President wants to bring these troops home, but he is facing enormous resistance within the government and the Defense Department.  

The groundswell of Republican support for President Donald Trump is simply amazing. It seems to me that not only would Trump survive culpability if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, but his loyalists “see-no-evil-anywhere” would insulate him even if he downed someone on Broadway, too.

Some call the passion and never-dying support for Trump by his ardents as a cult. Others simply point to his ability to feed the red meat needed to satisfy the angry right wing who has roamed the political wilderness, seemingly forever, without a leader. But, he’s now here and Trump is to be protected at all costs.  In fact, religious activist Ralph Reed claims that evangelicals have a moral duty to support Donald Trump.  Yep. A Moral duty.

For decades, the United States of America has been a very hospitable host for the United Nations. In return, their diplomats are notorious for getting traffic tickets and getting into trouble in multiple ways. Even worse, the UN general assembly regularly passes resolutions that are anti-American and anti-Israeli.

The United States funds approximately 23% of the operating budget of the United Nations. Our taxpayers are not getting their money's worth. We should not be funding an organization that is not aligned with our country's interests or values.