I remember in the year leading up to Trump’s election, there were seemingly constant terror attacks in Europe. (There were also several shootings in America by Islamic fundamentalists, though the degree to which they were actually part of any organized terror group is debatable.) Trump campaigned heavily on “making America safe” and he brought up these attacks in Europe again and again to make a point of how supposedly vulnerable America was to ISIS. He kept saying “we’re going to bomb the shit out of ISIS,” the first time I’ve ever heard anyone running for political office use that kind of language.
Indeed, the one positive thing I heard about Trump from people who otherwise disliked him, was that his national defense team was very good. I know that there’s been rather…high turnover…in that department, although Mattis - who seems well respected across the board - has been constant and generally avoided the spotlight.
I cannot remember the last time I saw a news story about a major terror attack, whether by Islamic terrorists or any other kind of terrorists. (I’m excluding mass shootings that are not part of an organized movement.) Has the American military been more, or less, effective in cracking down on these groups, during the time Trump has been president?
I’m not implying that Trump is directly responsible for any progress in this department; there are of course other parties involved. Various European countries; Russia; Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations which are either waging their own battle on terrorism or sponsoring it, depending on who you ask; there are the national armies of Afghanistan and Iraq which America tried to equip and train (although I’ve heard only bad things about their combat ability from American military officers who were sent there to try to get them squared away.)
But am I correct in my overall impression that terrorism seems to have decreased significantly?