Trump killed 13,405 people, in Syria and Iraq alone, as the 45th president of the United States (in his first term, 2017-2020). This more than doubled the number killed by his predecessor, President Obama (who killed a little over 5700 civilians). Few speak about this mass killing, since the propaganda portraying Trump as an affable, easy-going grandfather is relentless, especially now that he has rebranded himself as the “peace president.”
To hide his record of bloodshed, in 2019, Trump rescinded an Obama-era mandate requiring public disclosure of civilian casualty estimates from U.S. military operations in active conflict zones. Next, his administration relaxed oversight rules for drone and special operations, granting the military greater autonomy to conduct strikes with reduced scrutiny. He has at once done the same, now that he is back in the White House.
People might recall that in his campaign during 2016, he said he would get America out of “endless wars.” This never happened during his first tenure. Then, in 2024, he sold himself as the “peace president”—and he began bombing as soon as he got into office. As people now say, ignore what Trump says and focus on what he does. In the part of the world known as the “Global South,” Trump loves to kill.
As President 45, Trump escalated military operations in several areas. He increased the use of drone warfare, so that by March 2019, he launched more drone strikes (2,243) than Obama had done did in his two terms (1,878).
Trump established a lethal method for killing civilians, and he was very good at it. He killed children, parents and grandparents, people attending funerals, even wedding guests. He dropped bombs, droned people, and carried out airstrikes. Aside from civilians, many American servicemen also died carrying out his hits.
There was a significant increase in civilian casualties in Afghanistan due to airstrikes. From 2016 to 2019, civilian deaths from airstrikes increased by 330%. In 2019 alone, airstrikes claimed the lives of 700 civilians in Afghanistan, the highest number since the war began in 2002. From 2017 to 2019, the United States, its allies, and the Afghan government were responsible for an average of 1,134 civilian deaths annually, a 95% increase from the average of 582 civilian deaths per year between 2007 and 2016. Regarding U.S. military casualties, during Trump’s presidency (January 20, 2017, to January 20, 2021), there were 45 combat deaths among U.S. service members reported in Afghanistan, as well as 18 “non-hostile” deaths. Trump dropped the very first MOAB (GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, aka, “Mother of All Bombs”) on Afghanistan, in the Nangarhar region. We will never really know how many people died in the resulting blast.
Trump also increased the number of strikes in Libya, the Sahel region, and in Somalia, through the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) which is tasked with overseeing US military operations and fostering security cooperation with 53 African nations, excluding Egypt, which falls under the purview of US Central Command. Under Trump, AFRICOM conducted 196 airstrikes in Somalia between 2017 and 2020, compared to 31 under Obama. This included 38 strikes in 2017, 48 in 2018, 61 in 2019, and 49 by late 2020. In two years of Trump’s tenure, he more than doubled the number of drone strikes in Somalia compared to Obama’s eight years. The escalation raised concerns about civilian casualties. Watchdog groups criticized AFRICOM for failing to meet statutory requirements for reporting civilian harm, with hundreds of reports excluded from official accounts.
Now that he is back in office, Trump 47 has picked up where he left off in Africa, and ordered a massive surge in airstrike. And he has also made sure that civilian deaths will never be reported.
In Iraq, the US-led coalition continued its campaign against ISIS in Iraq during Trump’s tenure (Operation Inherent Resolve), conducting thousands of airstrikes. Instead of killing ISIS members, there were troop injuries and fatalities, and civilian deaths, resulting from these operations. Trump killed a lot of people, but achieved nothing.
Then, there was Yemen. Trump’s involvement in this country also goes back to his first term, when he intensified US attacks on that country, with larger military actions, arms support for Saudi Arabia, and punitive policy. And Trump vetoed attempts to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, while deploying an additional 14,000 troops to the region in the spring of 2019.
He conducted 230 declared U.S. military actions in Yemen, the most intensive period of strikes since 2001 on that country. In 2017 alone, there were 131 airstrikes, marking a significant escalation compared to previous years. Officially, these operations were supposed to target al-Qaeda and ISIS but more often resulted in civilian casualties. But, because he rescinded the mandate to disclose the number of civilians killed by US military action, we shall really know the real number of killed.
In January 2017, Trump authorized a controversial raid on Yakla, in the Al-Bayda Governorate of Yemen, which led to many civilian deaths, including women and children, as well as the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL. And, true to form, it achieved nothing.
Next, in 2020, Trump brought in sanctions and designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization, which together caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history, in which thousands perished, mostly women and children.
But none of this led to the defeat of the Houthis; and in the end, Trump’s actions in Yemen were a failure, because he achieved nothing, although he did succeed in creating a massive humanitarian crisis, the effects of which are on-going even today.
Next, Trump turned his attention to Somalia, and succeeded in destroying that country. As usual, he began with grand plans—an aggressive counterterrorism campaign, significant military airstrikes, followed by U-turn policy shifts, and non-existent diplomacy.
Trump began strong in Somalia, by dramatically escalating US airstrikes, and conducting more strikes than the combined total of the Bush and Obama administrations. From 2017 to 2020, there were 196 airstrikes, supposedly targeting Al-Shabaab (i.e., Al-Qaeda) and Islamic State affiliates. But once the dust settled, far more civilians were killed than terrorists. This may not be surprising to most, since Al-Qaeda and ISIS are CIA creations.
These raids brought about a massive population displacement, as people fled to get away from the bombs and the fighting. And then, suddenly, Trump decided to pull the 700 US soldiers out of Somalia. The sudden departure caused yet another humanitarian crisis, in which thousands of civilians died. Nearly 300,000 people were affected by the military actions of Trump.
And in the end, Somalia was left a devasted, destroyed country, with Al-Shabaab firmly in place. This was another one of Trump’s spectacular failures.
Trump slaughtered indiscriminately in his first term, and specialized in creating “bigly” humanitarian crises. It is difficult to estimate how many people died as a result, in Africa, Afghanistan, the Sahel, Yemen and Somalia, by the time he left office in 2020.
And let us not forget Syria.
On April 7, 2017, Trump launched his first direct military action against the government of President Assad. The United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat Airbase in response to a false flag and staged chemical weapons attack on Khan Shaykhun. This strike marked a significant escalation in US involvement in the Syrian conflict, as it was the first time the US deliberately targeted Syrian government forces. It was reported that Russian military personnel were present at the airbase during the attack and hundreds of them were killed.
In February 2018, US forces killed hundreds of Russian military contractors in an intense battle near Deir ez-Zor, Syria. The US military responded to an attack by pro-Syrian regime forces, which included Russians, on an established US position. Estimates of Russian casualties ranged from 100 to 300, with some sources reporting up to 200-300 killed or wounded.
The engagement was largely one-sided, with US forces using airstrikes and Apache helicopter attacks to repel the advancing column. This incident was described as “the first deadly clash between citizens of Russia and the United States since the Cold War.”
And what was achieved in Syria? Nothing. Just a lot of bombs being dropped and a lot of people getting killed, all to put on a show of great deeds being done by Trump the peace president.
War carries a lot of political currency in America, which carries across party lines. Americans love seeing their presidents bomb the impoverished and the poor. Such brutality seems to reify their notion of being exceptional. This is why their media calls the people they bomb “barbarians” and all kinds of stories are told about them,
In October 2019, following a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump ordered the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria ahead of a Turkish incursion. This decision was widely criticized as abandoning Kurdish allies. However, by November 2019, US troops had in fact repositioned to eastern Syria, to secure oil and gas infrastructure, and the rich wheat-land.
Throughout this period, the Trump administration’s approach to Syria was marked by conflicting statements and actions, with troop levels often being disputed or obscured.
The point of all this mayhem was to bring about an “enduring defeat” of ISIS. That never happened. But it was Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Quds Force, who ultimately defeated ISIS in Syria. Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad, ordered by Trump. Soleimani was falsely accused of orchestrating attacks on US personnel in Iraq. The strike was controversial, with mixed intelligence reports about the imminence of Soleimani’s alleged plans against U.S. interests. In other words, Trump lied in order to kill this man.
And, then, there is Palestine. During his presidency from 2017 to 2020, Trump demonstrated a special hatred of Arabs and Palestinians, which he expressed in various ways.
First, he brought in a Middle East “peace plan” in 2020 that was heavily skewed in Israel’s favor, offering Palestinians limited autonomy, while allowing Israel to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank. In November 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US no longer viewed Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law, reversing decades of US policy.
Trump facilitated the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. This enhanced Israel’s regional position and economic ties, while entirely ignoring the plight of the Palestinians.
Second, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, effectively recognizing the city as Israel’s capital, despite its contested status.
Third, his administration cut hundreds of millions in aid to Palestinians and closed the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington. He ceased funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 2018, aligning with Israel’s stance on Palestinian refugee issues, claiming that UNRWA funded “terrorists.”
Throughout 2017-2020, Trump provided substantial military aid to Israel. For FY2021, the administration requested $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing and $500 million in missile defense aid. There were also various arms deals, and America continued being the biggest weapons supplier to Israel.
Trump expressed unwavering support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose extremist policies continue the genocide of the Palestinians.
While Trump claimed his policies were aimed at achieving peace, they effectively undermined Palestinian rights and aspirations for statehood. His approach was criticized for inflaming tensions rather than promoting reconciliation. But perhaps that was the plan.
Now that Trump 47 is once again the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military for the next four years, he has begun where he left off in 2020. He has quickly rebuilt Israel’s bomb stocks, which Netanyahu is now using to kill more women and children—with Trump’s approval and support.
And, Trump has also sent the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), commonly referred to as the “Mother of All Bombs,” to Israel. It is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. military arsenal. The transfer of MOABs to Israel is seen as a significant escalation in military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. Previous U.S. administrations, from George W. Bush to Joe Biden, had been reluctant to provide such powerful non-nuclear weapons to Israel due to concerns about escalating regional conflicts. Trump’s decision marks a departure from this cautious approach. But this aligns with Trump’s broader strategy to bolster Israel’s military capabilities in the Middle East and deepen US-Israeli military collaboration. More than anything, Trump wants to make Israel “great.”
And Trump has again begun bombing and killing civilians in Yemen, which will only lead to his own defeat, since he not won any conflict that he started. All he has succeeded in doing is start humanitarian crises. He is very good at that. And, in Somalia, he has again take up where he left off in 2020, by beginning bombing campaigns.
But how to explain this penchant for bloodshed, far greater than his predecessors, who were no less bloody in their own way? Why does Trump kill blindly and relentlessly?
Hannah Arendt was wrong when she said that evil was “banal.” In fact, evil is compartmental, and only works effectively when it is so. Banality suggests that evil grows out of the commonplace. It does not. In fact, evil is exhilarating because it is transactional—enacted within carefully constructed compartments, each entirely cut off from the other. Each compartment has its own “job description,” or logic, perhaps even “ethic,” which is nothing more than a transaction—and so the participant just has to enter a compartment, fulfill the requisite job description, do what is necessary, and leave. Everything gets left behind in that compartment. Nothing is carried over into any other compartment. Because one compartment is entirely cut off from the others, evil flourishes, because there is no morality involved in a commercial transaction, in the logic of the job description. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, is an old American saying.
Thus, Trump can show endless empathy when he speaks of trying to save the lives of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers in the conflict in Ukraine. He says he wants to stop the killing. And he has the greatest empathy for the Israeli hostages of Hamas.
Then he turns around and promises “hell” for Palestine and Yemen and Somalia, and is utterly blind to the horrors of genocide in Gaza, and approves of the devastation his bombs are wreaking in Yemen and Somalia. He speaks compassionately about the hostages held by Hamas, but could not give a tinker’s damn for the thousands of Palestinian hostages held by Israel, many of them just children. He speaks compassionately about the dead bodies of hostages that Hamas has kept, calling it “sick, twisted.” But he has nothing to say of the over 600 bodies of Palestinians that Israel holds, for no reason at all—nor does he call Israel “sick, twisted” for holding dead Palestinian bodies.
The reason for this dichotomy is simple. In the “situation room,” the compartment, where he encounters Ukraine, he sees human beings, and wants to save them from being killed. Then he goes to the other situation room, the compartment for Gaza or Yemen or Somalia, or Syria, or Iran, and is shown “terrorists,” because only “terrorists” actually live in these places; and “terrorists” he will gladly kill, preferably in vast numbers. There can be no women, children, the old among “terrorists.” There are only “terrorists,” who deserve whatever he can dish out to them.
It is merely the affixed label on the compartment, which elicits compassion or cruelty. “Human” in Ukraine and Israel. “Terrorist” for the Middle East and Africa. Humans labeled this or that are dealt with appropriately, each according to the job description of the compartment. And each compartment demands a different persona. This compartmentalization is the very structure of modern human life, greatly exacerbated by social media, for humans can no longer even walk without staring at their phones. Humans have thus become moral chameleons, assuming the ethics of whatever is popular and elicits the greatest reaction.
Evil has to be dead-simple, without complexity, to work properly and over a long period of time—so that, in the evil-doer’s mind, he is not engaged in evil, but something “righteous,” or “good,” such as killing “terrorists.”
Trump will always save “humans.” He will always kill “terrorists.” The MAGA bubble he inhabits enforces this distinction continually, with endless narratives about American “civilization” versus Global South “barbarity.” In such fables, “humans’ simply do not exist inside the compartment designated for “terrorists.”
And by the time his term ends, just as in his first term, Trump will have killed many, many thousands of innocents, and his supporters will applaud him for a job well done. Evil becomes desirable and is eagerly pursued when it is given the approval of devoted fans (such is the “logic” of horror films, is it not? And Americans are avid movie-watchers).
As to the question, “how do such people sleep at night?” Very simple—by going into that other compartment, labeled “home,” Mar-a-Lago, which requires the donning of another “job description,” that of “private life,” in which “terrorists” never enter, and there is only quality family time to be enjoyed, or golf to be played with close friends—after a long, hard day at the compartment (“office”), and any memory associated with this compartment is left inside it, and never brought “home.”
In this way, evil is transactional—the “art of the deal.” Behavior is thus always public.. It is never an extension of personal morality, and thus never compassionate. Trump has no qualms killing “terrorists.” Hollywood demands it.
For billionaires, who have so much money that it is meaningless, the greatest “wealth” is the spending of power. Killing people labeled as “villains” is the most powerful form of such “spending.” An old meaning of “spending” is “orgasm.” Therefore, killing is pleasurable, and is explained as getting rid of “bad people.” It is powerful to decide who is worthy of life and who is not. This is what Hollywood has taught America for many long decades. And Trump is “America first,” after all. This is what he means when he says, “Peace through strength,” and when he calls himself “the peace president.” It is the peace of the graveyard that he promises. The one promise he will keep.
The coming four years will be bloody, and murderous for many in the world. “May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.”
