https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/trump-kurds-syria-army.html It looks like Obama started air dropping supplies to the Kurdish forces in 2014, but Trump made the decision to arm them in May of 2017 after he took office. I don't think anyone really wanted to do that because of their ties to terrorist groups, but it seemed like a better option than fighting ISIS with U.S. troops on the ground. It was probably a stretch for Trump to compare the Kurdish groups to ISIS. (They're a whole different level of crazy.) But he was right that they aren't angels, and it isn't our responsibility to protect them perpetually moving forward just because we fought a common enemy together. They've been in conflict with Turkey for decades. We would probably never leave the Middle East if we stayed to protect them.
So it went like this. If we arm these guys that will help us with ISIS but Turkey will have a problem with them after. Trump, I have no problem throwing anyone under a bus, do it. He used the same they "aren't angels" with the central park five who he wanted executed at teens (some of them were teens at the time). He doubled down in it using the same "no angels" complaining that the exonerated men (he tried to kill) were getting too much financial compensation. Seems to be a tell for him. The guy is just an unstable shit-show. A few of my republican leaning friends and family said before the election that they would vote for him though he would be impeached for sure, as a protest and to shake things up in Washington. They did not predict so many going down the rabbit hole with him mind you which was my fear.
Unfortunately false, shockingly he still has support and respect from about 1/3 of our country. Had it not been for our free press, we would already be fast approaching dictatorship.
I certainly hope the dems plan to run on keeping troops in Syria. Make it the centerpiece of their campaign. After all, the kurds yadda yadda yadda. On the one hand, it is probably slightly more popular than some of their other core positions, eg free health care for illegals, green new deal, gun confiscation. And it's not like any of their voters will be volunteering to go either, so there's that. On the other hand, we've spent 10 or 15 trillion already on pointless sand wars, not to mention the hundreds of thousands dead and maimed. That money would have paid for a lot of nice stuff here at home, like a wall, infrastructure and a replacement for the failed Obamacare mess.
It has shown that 30% or so of the population have no strong bond with ethics/morals or facts. I recall from some marketing lectures that about 1/3 are highly susceptible to advertising, almost any ads regardless of quality if repeated influence them. The Milgram experiment showed about 66% were, at least in the immediate term of the experiment, enthralled by authoritarian commands and I'd say safe to assume the results if the current national experiment are showing about a third will solidly embrace authoritarianism. I discussed with a rabbi buddy how I suspected Trump would capture about 1/3 of America by default if he just stuck to the techniques he took from the book of Hitler's speeches he kept in his nightstand as revealed by his first wife (sod off with Godwin's law). He sent me this ages back when Trump started his rallies. Check the date. Stable genius or just a copy cat.