He's now attacking President Obama for the policy he once promoted.
Donald Trump, the celebrity tycoon and front-runner in the Republican 2016 race, doesn't hold back when he criticizes the Bush-Cheney crowd for the Iraq War. Over the years, he has called the Iraq invasion a "big mistake" and a "mess," and he has insisted he never would have launched that war. Though the war remains unpopular, Trump's critique does put him at odds with the Republican establishment and GOP voters who supported the invasion. So as he has soared to the top of the polls, Trump has deftly devised a way of discussing the Iraq War that includes Obama-bashing. The problem (well, it would be a problem for a conventional politician): Trump is contradicted by his own words.
Here's how Trump covers his bases on Iraq. While he bashes President George W. Bush for initiating the war, he also slams President Barack Obama for withdrawing troops from Iraq. Weeks ago, when Trump appeared on Megyn Kelly's Fox News show (pre-feud), he noted he was "strongly against" the invasion of Iraq. "We decapitated Iraq and now Iran is taking over the entire Middle East," he said. Then Kelly, bringing up a key Republican talking point, asked Trump if Obama had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by bringing home US troops from Iraq. Trump replied:
"It's the fault of Obama -- there is no question. It's the fault of Bush for going in. It's the fault of Obama for getting out. It's a disaster -- the war should have never happened. And then once it did happen, you should have at least left the troops in. So it's really a double fault."
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