At the Democratic debate in Ohio on Tuesday, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), both veterans, clashed over the future of Syria policy now that President Donald Trump has unexpectedly withdrawn troops from the region and created chaos.
Buttigieg condemned Trump's policy, saying "When I was deployed I knew one of the things keeping me safe was the flag on my shoulder represented a country that kept its word. You take that away, it takes away what makes America and America and makes the troops and our world a much more dangerous response." Gabbard attacked him, accusing him of wanting to stay in Syria "for an indefinite period of time to continue this regime change war," suggesting that the war was the fault of the United States, and repeated the Russian conspiracy theory that American troops were arming al-Qaeda.
Many commenters on social media reacted with disgust at Gabbard's mischaracterization of Buttigieg's position on national security, her false narrative about how the Syrian war began, and her seeming defense, yet again, of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad: