‘Where’s the war? I don’t see the war’: Trump says Obama & Hillary marched the US into conflict while he ‘kept us out’ of new wars

President Donald Trump has boasted that by replacing Barack Obama and defeating Hillary Clinton, he saved the US from war with North Korea. An unlikely dove, Trump has often accused his rivals of clamoring for conflict.

Speaking on Thursday from Old Forge, Pennsylvania – just two miles from Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton – Trump tore into his opponent, calling Biden a “puppet of the radical left movement” who wants to “hike your taxes” and “take away your guns,” among other by now well-worn criticisms. 

After rounding on Biden, Trump boasted of his own accomplishments in office, including his series of meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. According to Trump, his overtures to Kim saved the US from a costly and destructive war with Pyongyang.

“Remember there was gonna be a war?” he asked the crowd. “It would have been a war if you had Hillary Clinton, it would have been a war if Obama were allowed to stay any longer.”

He thought there was gonna be a war. Where’s the war? I don’t see the war

Back in November 2016, Obama did indeed warn Trump of the North Korean threat, according to a host of anonymous officials. Among those who spoke on record, the mood was tense, with Obama’s former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen telling the Wall Street Journal that the US could no longer “sit back and continue to let [Kim] evolve.”

Whether that tension would have boiled over into open war or not, however, remains the stuff of speculation. However, Trump is likely keen to portray himself as a peacemaker, especially after winning an election on the promise to end the US’ “forever wars” and bring thousands of American troops home from the Middle East.

Joe Biden voted for the War in Iraq. I kept us out of new wars.

Trump has partially kept his promise. American troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan, although Defense Secretary Mark Esper said two weeks ago that the number of Americans there will be cut roughly in half by November. Likewise, troop numbers in Iraq and Syria have been drastically reduced, though a number have stayed behind to guard Syrian oil reserves.

Trump oversaw two cruise missile strikes on Syria, the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the drone assassination of Iranian Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani. While the killing of Soleimani sparked outrage among Democrats and brought the US and Iran to the brink of war, Trump still holds the distinction of being the only recent US leader not to start any fresh foreign invasions. Obama, by contrast, bombed seven countries, including two where the war was started by George W. Bush.

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