There was nothing wrong with the strong words President Donald Trump used to describe the United States' victory over fugitive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove said Monday.
“His description is good," Rove told Fox News' "Fox and Friends," while responding to complaints about the words the president had used to describe how the terrorist had died. "To describe who this guy is to the people, to the west, [is] to remind us of the evil that they (ISIS) represent. On the other hand, the most important thing was we killed him."
Trump said during a Sunday morning announcement that Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest after U.S. Special Operations Forces stormed his compound in the Idlib Province in Syria, and died "whimpering."
He further said the ISIS leader died "like a dog" and "as a coward, running and crying."
“The most important thing was not what the president said but what the president ordered to be done in terms of ISIS itself. It was a great action,” Rove said.
Rove, who was an adviser to President George W. Bush at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attack, called Trump's words a message to other terrorists around the world.
“The terrorists are not going to pay attention to the president’s words, but they pay a lot of attention to America’s actions, and the death of Baghdadi has got to shake that organization from top to bottom.”
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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