Foreign policy

Rand Paul claims win over 'war caucus,' defends Trump on Syria

With Republicans and Democrats alike piling on Trump and raising concerns that his decision could lead to Turkish attacks on U.S. Kurdish allies and a resurgence of ISIS, Paul declared that “most Americans would actually agree with President Trump that this is not a war that has our national interest at stake.”

“These are the people that have never met a war they didn’t like and have never met a war they wanted to end,” Paul told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, singling out the Cheney family as part of their long-running feud with Paul. “They’ve been wrong about everything in foreign policy for the last several decades.”

The bipartisan backlash Trump faced Monday may have led the administration to begin some damage control. On Tuesday. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters that “I understand he’s reconsidering. I do not think we should abandon the Kurds." When asked to clarify, a Cassidy spokesperson said the senator saw reporting that cited Trump may be rethinking the withdrawal.