Trump sounding like Ron Paul on Middle East
We are officially in surreal-ville.
CHUCK TODD:
You came across to me as if you welcomed Putin’s involvement in Syria. You said it was sort of, like, you didn’t s– you saw very little downside. Why?
DONALD TRUMP:
I’ll tell ya why. I’ve– I am somebody that– and you know I’ve been saying this to you for a long time– I want our military to be beyond anything, no contest, and technologically, most importantly. Because you’re getting now, militaries have to be technologically advanced. So, we probably have a big advantage– we do have a big advantage of that. But we are gonna get bogged down in Syria. If you look at what happened with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, that’s when they went bankrupt. They went bankrupt. They were there so long–
CHUCK TODD:
So, you think–you– you think Putin’s gonna get suckered into–
DONALD TRUMP:
They’re gonna get bogged down. Everybody that’s touched the Middle East, they’ve gotten bogged down. Now, Putin wants to go in– Putin does not want ISIS. I know they haven’t hit ’em as hard as they should be hitting ’em because–
CHUCK TODD:
They’re hittin’ Assad– they’re hittin’ people we’ve trained.
DONALD TRUMP:
Excuse me. Where they’re hitting people, we’re talking about people that we don’t even know. The rebel group– we have no idea. I was talking to a general two days ago. He said, “We have no idea who these people are. We’re training people. We don’t know who they are. We’re giving ’em billions of dollars to fight Assad.”
And you know what? It’s very po– I’m not saying Assad’s a good guy, ’cause he’s probably a bad guy. But I’ve watched him interviewed many times. And you can make the case, if you look at Libya, look at what we did there– it’s a mess– if you look at Saddam Hussein with Iraq, look what we did there– it’s a mess– it’s gonna be same thing.
CHUCK TODD:
You think the Middle East would be better today if Gadhafi, Saddam and Assad were sort of– if Saddam and Gaddafi were still there and Assad were stronger? You think–
DONALD TRUMP:
Not even–
CHUCK TODD:
–the Middle East would be safer?
DONALD TRUMP:
–it’s not even a contest, Chuck. It’s not even a contest. Iraq is a disaster. And ISIS–
CHUCK TODD:
So, it’d be better off if Saddam were in charge?
DONALD TRUMP:
Don’t forget. ISIS came out of Iraq.
CHUCK TODD:
Right. No, I understand.
DONALD TRUMP:
–the leftovers that didn’t get taken care of.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, let me button this up. If Saddam and Gadhafi, you think things would be more stable?
DONALD TRUMP:
Of course it would be. You wouldn’t have had your Benghazi situation which is one thing which was just a terrible situation. But, of course, it would. Libya is– is not even– nobody even knows what’s goin’ on over there. It’s not even a country anymore.
CHUCK TODD:
So you welcome Putin’s involvement.
DONALD TRUMP:
I like that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS– and it’s going to be ISIS. I’ll tell ya why. Putin has to get rid of ISIS ’cause Putin doesn’t want ISIS coming into Russia.