On Afghanistan: Trump Will Ask For ‘Trust’ From A Citizenry That Reasonably Doesn’t Trust Him (VIDEO)

President Donald Trump plans to ask for the American people’s trust when it comes to his new policy in Afghanistan, CNN reported on Sunday evening.

Trump plans to speak directly to the American citizenry on Monday night, at 9 p.m. EST. According to sources close to the president, he will announce an escalation of American troops in Afghanistan. Estimates are that around 4,000 additional troops will be deployed in addition to the more than 8,000 that are already in the region.

It may become difficult for many Americans, however, to give their trust to Trump after more than eight months of his as-of-yet tumultuous leadership. Indeed, a report in July found that since Trump assumed the office of the president he has lied or misled to us at least 836 times.

In addition to this obstacle, Trump’s popularity is at a very low point, and it’s especially low for a first-term president who hasn’t even finished his first year in office yet. Among registered voters in a recent NPR poll, only 38 percent give the president passing marks, while 51 percent disapprove of his job performance so far.

All of this comes before Trump even announces his plans for Afghanistan, which didn’t come about in a typical manner. Trump, who campaigned on getting out of the war, was convinced by his top advisers that withdrawal now would be a better course of action rather than trying to score a political “win” on the issue. The president isn’t likely to discuss that aspect when he addresses the nation on Monday evening, but it is worth considering that it played a part in his decision-making process.

Trump’s military prowess doesn’t give us enough reason to trust him. Remember, this was a man who campaigned on the idea of committing war crimes in order to win the war on terrorism. If President Trump wants to have the trust of the American people, he needs to earn it first — a task that, so far, he has failed to accomplish.

Here’s video of Donald Trump previous opinions on Afghanistan, before he became president:

Featured image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr under a CC BY-SA 2.0.