JANUARY 30, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC
9:15 P.M.
Donald Trump wants to get both monsters.
The president of the United States stands before Congress, about to give his first State of the Union address since taking office one year ago. He wears a dark-blue suit and royal-blue tie. A small American flag pin is affixed to his left lapel. Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan sit directly behind Mr. Trump. The room is full, a mixture of senators, representatives, Supreme Court justices, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a host of invited guests. The weather outside is windy and the temperature below freezing, but it is warm and stuffy inside this massive legislative chamber.
“Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans,” the president begins. “Less than one year has passed since I first stood at this podium, in this majestic chamber, to speak on behalf of the American people—and to address their concerns, their hopes, and their dreams.”
There is much for the president to talk about this evening—from the economy to ending a nuclear arms deal with Iran that the president considers unfairly weighted against America. But while the war on terror will not be mentioned until halfway through Mr. Trump’s eighty-one-minute speech, the president’s initial actions show his determination to end the ISIS threat.
One year ago, in Mr. Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress, he called for the United States to “take decisive action to defeat ISIS.” He noted that “ISIS has engaged in a systematic campaign of persecution and extermination in those territories it enters or controls. If ISIS is left in power, the threat that it poses will only grow. We know it has attempted to develop chemical weapons capability. It continues to radicalize our own citizens, and its attacks against our allies and partners continue to mount.”
The president also vowed that the “development of a new plan to defeat ISIS will commence immediately.”
In fact, it has already been implemented.
In a series of top secret actions, President Trump authorized the dropping of the largest nonnuclear bomb ever used—directly on an ISIS training camp.* Also, he has furtively sent US troops into Syria to confront the Islamic State.
The aggressive posture has worked.
By December 2017, the ISIS caliphate lost 95 percent of its territory, including its two biggest properties: Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, its nominal capital.
However, the attacks on American targets keep coming.
On December 11, a twenty-seven-year-old Bangladeshi native who resided in the US as a citizen was inspired by ISIS to detonate a bomb on a New York subway train during morning rush hour. “Oh, Trump,” the terrorist posted to Facebook while riding the A train into Manhattan, “you fail to protect your nation.”
But the electrical worker’s pipe bomb fails to fully detonate due to faulty wiring. Instead, he is burned after injuring a small group of bystanders. The Bangladeshi native is quickly taken into custody and confesses that he had built the bomb to serve ISIS. Akayed Ullah would also later claim that he attempted the terror attack because “he was angry with Donald Trump.” *
The attack takes place at 7:20 a.m. On the same day, the president demands a new policy to keep potential terrorists out of the United States, calling for an end to what is known as “chain migration.” This policy grants a path to American citizenship to direct relatives of current citizens.
One week later, Donald Trump increases pressure on the terrorists by demanding that Congress renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008. That law makes it possible for the United States to collect text messages and emails from non–US citizens in foreign countries. The National Security Administration is allowed to do this without a warrant or legal pretext. Trump’s extension is quickly passed.
“Terrorists who do things like place bombs in civilian hospitals are evil. When possible, we annihilate them. When necessary, we must be able to detain and question them. But we must be clear: Terrorists are not merely criminals. They are unlawful enemy combatants. And when captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are.”
Trump’s State of the Union remarks bring a loud ovation. Both sides of the aisle stand in applause, terror being a distinctly bipartisan issue.
The president continues.
“In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield—including the ISIS leader al-Baghdadi.”
The president concludes: “I am also asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists—wherever we chase them down.”
But President Trump does not tell the world what is really happening. He wraps up his speech to polite applause and leaves the building knowing that death orders have already been issued against Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and General Qasem Soleimani. In private, Trump is adamant that all terror threats be eliminated.
All. Terror. Threats.
Donald Trump’s strong posture against terror is not controversial to most Americans. But overseas there is alarm. The United States is now acting unilaterally—something that rarely happened under President Obama.
And in their desert habitats, both al-Baghdadi and Soleimani know it.