Did angry Ivanka tweets make Trump take action?
Daughter’s ‘heartbreak’ for Syria President performs incredible military U-turn
DONALD Trump’s astonishing U-turn on launching military action in Syria was sparked by his daughter’s condemnation of the deadly gas attacks.
As the White House focused on blaming former president Barack Obama for Tuesday’s “reprehensible” assault, Ivanka Trump tweeted that she was “heartbroken and outraged”.
Her message stood out in the absence of condemnation from the president or his senior officials over Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s sarin gas attack.
Ivanka wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “Heartbroken and outraged by the images coming out of Syria following the atrocious chemical attack yesterday.”
After her message was posted, Trump’s stance hardened. He said: “Yesterday’s chemical attack against innocent people – their deaths was an affront to humanity. These heinous actions by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated.”
Ivanka’s post and subsequent talks with her father are said to have spurred him into ordering air strikes early yesterday.
A source said: “Ivanka is having more and more influence over her father. She often counsels her father and was clear that action needed to be taken against Assad.
“Ivanka was infuriated over the lack of a direct response in the immediate aftermath of the attack.”
The president and his advisers watched the air strikes from a makeshift situation room at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
After the missile strike, Ivanka wrote on Twitter: “The times we are living in call for difficult decisions. Proud of my father for refusing to accept these horrendous crimes against humanity.”
Trump’s decision to take military action is a major departure from his long-held stance on foreign policy.
In 2013, he was critical of Obama for considering air strikes in Syria, after a similar chemical attack by Assad. The tycoon tweeted: “If Obama attacks Syria and innocent civilians are hurt and killed, he and the US will look very bad.”
He later wrote: “Don’t attack Syria – an attack that will bring nothing but trouble for the US.”
Trump’s standpoint had changed little since he became president. Last week, his administration said the US’s “priority is no longer to focus on getting Assad out”.
The U-turn is said to be due to pressure from Ivanka, 35. Trump’s eldest daughter and her husband,
Jared Kushner, are considered the “voices of reason” in the White House.
Both are special advisers to the president, with some calling the First Daughter the “Commander-in-Peace”.
The source said: “Ivanka has her own mind. While her dad is driven by his ego and political point-scoring, Ivanka could not be more opposite.
“As she was feeding her kids on Wednesday morning, she tweeted her thoughts for everyone to see. The response was immediate and helped changed her father’s views on Syria.”
Hours after the attack, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the it was the result of Obama’s failure to act.
He said: “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution.
“President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing.”
Spicer at another point said the White House does not see a correlation between its position toward Assad and the chemical attack.
He added: “I’m not going to get into it but I think the president is alarmed at these revelations.
“He continues to meet with his national security team and I think there will be further discussions around the globe with our allies as far as the appropriate action.”
US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and secretary of state Rex Tillerson had sparked controversy when they said America may work with Assad to help fight Isis.
Haley said the US’s “priority is no longer to focus on getting Assad out.” “Do we think he’s a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No,” she said.
“What we are going to focus on is putting the pressure in there so that we can start to make a change in Syria.”
On Monday, she said: “We have no love for Assad. We think he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He’s a war criminal. What he’s done to his people is nothing more than disgusting.”
Trump had promised during his presidential campaign that he would establish a safe zone in Syria for those seeking to escape the slaughter.
There will be further discussions around the globe with our allies SEAN SPICER