EXCERPT:
VINOGRAD: “Well, Jim, he can certainly check the box that he physically made it to Iraq, but what he actually did on the ground while he was there is just as important. Presidential trips like this are often to tell the military how much their service matters to the country and why their ongoing mission is so critical to the safety and security of the American people. This was a little bit different. The president seems to have confused in some way this troop visit with a campaign rally by raising things like the border wall and things he has done for them. What he really failed to do, at least as far as we know right now, is really make very clear why their ongoing presence in Iraq, Syria aside, is critical to the safety and security of the American people. There was a lot of gaslighting about what U.S. forces are doing in other theaters and less of a focus, frankly, on the ongoing stabilization mission and counter-terrorism mission that the forces in Iraq are performing.”