Trump’s solution to terrorism was as simplistic as the phrase he repeated: “Drive them out.” The more sophisticated Arab and other Islamic leaders in the assembly no doubt thought as they listened, “If only it were that easy.” They would have reflected on the practical problems with which they have dealt for decades: the attractiveness of the terrorists’ message to young and disaffected youth, the difficulty of creating an alternative path, the high unemployment of young men, and the lack of a counter ideology to that of Daesh (ISIS) and Al Qaeda.
The experienced leaders in Trump’s audience would have thought about why people join the terrorist groups in the first place. Unless governments and Islamic religious leaders can address the underlying causes of the terrorist movements, they will be unable to “drive them out.” Oppressive regimes that attempt to solve the terrorist problem simply with force actually strengthen the terrorist’s cause, by pushing more young men to the cause. Thus, Trump’s blank check to do whatever it takes to “drive them out” will actually make things worse.
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