The real reason Donald Trump is sending troops to Saudi Arabia

| 10:30 pm EDT September 21, 2019
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With Donald Trump’s presidency and freedom more deeply in doubt by the hour thanks to his Ukraine whistleblower scandal, Trump is falling into an old cliché for politicians who are in danger of imminent downfall: he’s initiating a military buildup overseas. This has set off all kinds of alarms, and for good reason.

Even as it was becoming more clear that Donald Trump committed some variation of treason by trying to coerce Ukraine into rigging the 2020 election in his favor, the Trump regime announced last night that it was sending troops to Saudi Arabia. Was he planning to invade Iran? Was he planning to put on massive military exercises on the border, in the hope of provoking Iran into starting a war?

Well, no. For starters, Iran and Saudi Arabia don’t border each other. Putting troops in Saudi Arabia, with the intent of invading or provoking Iran, would make no sense. In addition, the fine print reveals that this “military buildup” isn’t the real thing. NBC News says that the “modest” number of U.S. troops involved is not in the thousands. So what are we talking about here, a few hundred troops?

These are real lives, and Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game by sending even a small number of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia under these circumstances. But this isn’t a buildup to war with Iran. In fact it isn’t a buildup to anything. If you want to give Trump the benefit of the doubt (and there’s no reason to), he’s sending a small number of U.S. troops in the hope that the rebels in Yemen will think twice about another drone attack. If you want to be a cynic about it, Trump is sending a small number of troops to Saudi Arabia in the hope of goading the media to focus on it instead of on his Ukraine treason scandal.