mr. nice guy, president s deputy campaign manager in 2016 was asked how proposed troop increase core responds with the anti-war message that president trump campaigned. we all remember that. over and over again. stupid wars, stupid war webs stupid cars. the working class people bought it, they trusted him. let s see what he says now. he hates spending money and he hates spending our soldiers over to anywhere in the world where it is not necessary where it is not in the vital interest of the united states. he has taken this time to figure out, with his commanders, what is the right strategy, not only in afghanistan but in iraq and other chances. i think he will give them a chance to prove what they want and their strategy. but he is also a man who will reflect on that over the coming weeks and months and he is able to change it if he decides this is not working.
that is blah blah blah if i ve ever heard it. he is a libertarian. a nationalist and all that. then with the blah blah blah. leaving it up to the general says not how our constitution works. would he don t turn it over to the generals. they ve had the general answers all of the men and women fighting over there for 16 years have had that war. now saying we will make them decide. they decided all along. people of afghanistan are not willing to fight the ptaliban with the zeal the taliban slg to fight. right, kelly? i think one of the fundamental problems we have with president trump is he is showing his largely disinterest to this issue. he hasn t travelled to afghanistan before this decision. he hasn t called the president of afghanistan to relay the decision. he deferred that to vice president pence today. pence is going over there? we ll see. as is the american public. not very interested.
won. you heard that damn right coming from the crowd. in january 13 trump tweeted, let s get out of afghanistan. let s rebuild the usa. today trump advancing the path forward in afghanistan. according to various reports, he is set to announce an increase in u.s. troops numbers over in afghanistan. defense foreign officials tell nbc news the president may not get specific about troop levels but say as many as 4,000 could be sent in addition to the will,000 we hawil8,000 we have there now. there have been 2 h 00 casualties and deaths in afghanistan. more than 800,000 deployment serving duty there so far and spent more than $600 billion fighting in afghanistan. last month, the president acknowledged that we re not winning our war over there. will we ever win over there?
are in. that s right but that s classic establishment politics. that s what we grew up with. presidents saying in war so they don t get blamed for losing them. we stay in war, people getting killed, we kill people, so the president isn t blamed politically. then leave and lose the war anyway. i think the other piece here chris is that with bannon leaving, it leaves a vacuum for trump that i think will be filled. he always add bannon-like character. that s the question. i don t know who it s going to be. i don t know if it s roger stone. i don t know fe will come back. but there have always been characters like that at trump s side. there will be a position that s empty and it ll be filled. thank you. coming up. as a candidate, president trump railed against stupid leaders for prolong war in afghanistan. selling war in prime time calling for american troops to afghanistan. what changed? what changed his mind? trump s mind.
the way. we will get it in the next segment. then escalate in afghanistan which is pure. the old style of establishment. let s put more troops like johnson did, kennedy did. we always go to war and then we put more and more troops in. we think we will solve the problem. and i m wondering, that isn t mcmaster talking. if that isn t jared javanka talking. i think more of the generals talking. you have powerful generals in this sort of militarized white house at this point. and you know, their influence is felt very clearly but it was general kelly who has quite a bit of credit for pushing out, you know, not only scaramucci but also bannon. he is clearly asserting power. we have a problem. seems like people like me adove. must wonder what happens. that s what he worried about too. his calculation, he told many people, he told me sitting in his office last week when i saw him, his calculation was few effective can i be outside the