David Ignatius of the Washington Post praised President Donald Trump on Friday for launching a military strike against an airfield in Syria Thursday night, saying that he has restored "credibility" of America's power.
"Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough said Trump appeared to be following in former President Barack Obama's footsteps in regards to a hands-off approach to Syria, but has reversed his policy because he recognized the death and destruction in Syria allegedly at the hands of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"I think he found the consequences of embracing Assad which is in effect what he did, just too horrifying," Ignatius said. "I thought the president was sincere in saying, looking at those photographs of the little children choking to death as they died was abhorrent, and I think he said frankly, 'I change my mind.'"
Ignatius went on to say that Trump chose the "least drastic" military option that Secretary of Defense James Mattis provided, but still indicated that "he has acted."
"Can you explain why so many people, not only in Washington or the foreign policy community, but across the world were disheartened and concerned after Assad's first chemical weapon attack was met with no response and what those fears, how those fears would have multiplied if they had not been answered this second time?" Scarborough asked.
Ignatius responded by referencing foreign policy under the Obama administration.
"When a president says, as Barack Obama did, that the use of chemical weapons will cross a red line, established by the United States and then doesn't take action to enforce the red line, air goes out of the balloon," Ignatius said. "And we watched that with President Obama."
Ignatius said that by taking that action, Trump has restored the "credibility of American power."
"In terms of the credibility of American power, I think most traditional Washington commentators would say he's put more umph, more credibility back into it," Ignatius said.