No, this raid won’t magically save Donald Trump from ouster
If we really did take ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi yesterday, that’s fantastic news – though you have to wonder, given all the media reports that he died in 2017. It’s even better news that no U.S. military personnel were harmed in yesterday’s operation. This leaves us to assess the political impact of this development.
Donald Trump is going to claim that this is a signature accomplishment for him. He’s going to try to hold it up alongside the raid ordered by President Obama which took out Osama Bin Laden. But this is going to be problematic for Trump, for a couple reasons. First, most Americans have never associated Baghdadi with being the face of ISIS in the way they associated Bin Laden with being the face of Al Qaeda. Most Americans are waking up today and saying, “Who?” Second, while the U.S. military was apparently flawless on this mission, Trump has already managed to botch it on his end.
Trump rolled out the announcement of Baghdadi’s death in a juvenile manner, posting a vague tweet last night before holding a press conference this morning. That’s not a good look. It’s since turned out that the raid took place yesterday afternoon, and Trump was golfing when it started. He also failed to notify Congress of the mission. So now the narrative about Trump being negligent is competing for headlines with the narrative about Trump having given the order that took out a terrorist leader.
But the real trouble for Donald Trump is that this just isn’t the kind of thing that’s going to magically save him. Trump will gain zero supporters as a result of this raid. By this time tomorrow the media will have moved on from the Baghdadi story, and will be back to covering his worsening impeachment crisis. And he’ll be right back to being a criminal who’s on his way to being ousted.
