The Two Mr. TrumpsThe ISIS flag flies again in Raqqa, thanks to the man who drove them out a decade ago.January 23, 2026 by Robert Spencer 
No one ever thought this day would come: On Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, the flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) flew once again over Raqqa, the Syrian city that once served as its capital.
It was around ten years ago now that ISIS controlled a territory in Iraq and Syria that was larger than Britain. Given Barack Obama’s indifference (which is the best face one can put on his behavior) to its continued presence and even expansion, the ISIS caliphate looked as if it was here to stay. Then, however, came Donald J. Trump.
In a major speech on counterterrorism in August 2016, Trump pledged that “my administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.” The promise was made, and the promise was kept. Within a matter of months after his inauguration, the ISIS caliphate was no more.
And that wasn’t all. Trump said we could not only could we not allow ISIS’s evils to continue, but “nor can we let the hateful ideology of Radical Islam – its oppression of women, gays, children, and nonbelievers – be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries. We will defeat Radical Islamic Terrorism, just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age before.”
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https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-two-mr-trumps/
