The Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed during a raid led by the United States Special Operations forces in Syria. Steve Kerrigan and Jennifer Braceras joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to go over this and other political headlines during our weekly round table.
"When Trump decided to pull our troops out and essentially abandon the Kurds, a lot of Republicans really were upset about that and were on the verge of turning on him," Braceras said. "I'm not suggesting [al-Baghdadi's death] was politically motivated, but the political impact is that it brings some of them back into the fold."
Kerrigan says he sees hypocrisy in the way that President Trump has been speaking about al-Baghdadi's death.
"Trump was the one who tweeted out back in 2012 that it wasn't Barack Obama who killed Osama bin Laden, but the Navy Seals who killed Osama bin Laden," he said. "But now he's going to walk around taking credit for the hard work that a lot of the men and women in the military did, and Republicans are going to give him that credit when in fact the credit goes to the men and women in the special forces."
Braceras highlighted the back-and-forth that some members of the Republican party feel when evaluating Trump's political decisions.
"What happens with this president is that every time Republicans feel that he does something great, then he turns around and does something awful and vice versa," she said. "It's a pendulum that swings back and forth for many members of the Senate Republican caucus. They get whiplash," she said.
Braceras is a political columnist, senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, and a former commissioner of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Kerrigan is president of the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center and former CEO of the DNC.
