In a long-ranging, and now well-publicized, interview with U.K.-based Sunday Times, President-elect Donald Trump said the EU should shoulder more of NATO’s economic burden, dinged German immigration policy, and told reporters his singular “priority” as commander-and-chief boiled down to one word: “ISIS.”
“How are you going to deal with ISIS?” they asked.
Trump demurred, saying he didn’t want to detail his intentions to the entire world, ISIS included. Trump has indicated in the past he will pursue some sort of deal with Russia to attack the group inside Syria.
Trump also gave a scathing rebuke of President Barack Obama’s handling of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East throughout the interview. He attacked Obama’s handling of Afghanistan, Syria, and particularly focused on the ongoing Iraqi operation to retake the city of Mosul.
“I don’t want to be like Obama or others where they say — I always talk about Mosul, you know Mosul’s turned out to be a disas — brutal,” he declared.
Trump particularly took umbrage with the announcement of the Mosul operation before it began saying, “Mosul turned out to be a disaster because we announced five months ago that we were going into Mosul, in five months. In four months we said, “We’re getting ready, by the time we get in, it’s been so much talk — and it’s been very hard to take — you know that, right?”
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