Iraqis Praise Trump: ‘We Need a Strong Leader’

According to Fox News, Donald Trump’s favorability rating is “sky-high” in Baghdad, as the “overwhelming majority” of Iraqis from various personal and religious backgrounds support him over Hillary Clinton.

Granted that Baghdad has even fewer electoral votes in the U.S. presidential election than Alaska, it is still interesting to hear what Iraqis like about Trump, who is supposed to be radioactive with all Muslims everywhere on Earth.

For example, Shiite governor Nseeif al-Khattabi declared, “America should leave the political correctness and be tough on these countries that finance terrorism. We need a strong leader and if Trump needs me to speak at a rally I will come. If he follows his words and his strong stance and points his fingers at these countries that support terrorism, he will be able to stop it.”

“The Iraq invasion was not wrong, but the decisions that followed were wrong,” said another official, who preferred not to be named. “Keeping the army intact and getting rid of the Saddam loyalist bad apples, while keeping our security institutions in place would have been better.”

Less fulsome praise came came from Baghdad politician Mamoul al-Samraaii, whose political analysis was more party-based than enthusiasm for Trump: “If there is a problem in the world, it seems Republicans take over. When things are good, Democrats win. Republicans will likely have a better chance this time, with all the problems in our world.”

General Sarhad Qader Mohammed of the Kirkuk Police Department disliked Hillary Clinton’s “softer approach” to terrorism, and said Trump would be “much harder… he won’t put up with it.”

Trump even seems to be doing better with the Iraqi youth vote than he is with young American voters. A 27-year-old flight engineer named Saif Hussein echoed the endorsement of Trump as tougher on terrorism, expressing hope that a new administration would “help us to further eliminate the militants and terrorist financiers who support them.”

“I prefer Trump because of his opinions about the countries supporting terrorism, especially Saudi Arabia. We are against militant Islam. And Hillary Clinton was Obama’s Secretary of State – they made ISIS by using all the wrong strategies, and now they are having to fight it,” said Dr. Zainab Abbas Elshafei, who is a 26-year-old female gynecologist — a one-woman refutation of America’s political-demographic trends.

Iraqi Kurds seem to favor Trump as well. Fox News notes George W. Bush is fondly remembered among the Kurds for taking out Saddam Hussein, while they don’t care for Obama-Clinton foreign policy.

“Obama was the worst president of all, and she will be even worse,” said Kurdish political journalist Aso Haji.

Haji was just getting warmed up: “We see Mr. Trump as a more honest person, and America should be led by an honest person. And besides, how can we trust a woman who cannot uphold her dignity as a wife and a mother who stands by her husband through all types of scandals? How can she be trusted to defend the interests of a great nation like America?”

How about the much-persecuted Yazidis? It sounds like they’re Not With Her. “My whole family is gone. How can we ever trust them again? How can we trust Hillary Clinton who is afraid to call it what it is: Islamic terrorism? This matters to us,” said one Yazidi community leader.

The closest thing to political comfort for Clinton to be found in the Fox report was the guy in Baghdad who bluntly stated, “She is a woman. I don’t know if most Iraqis are ready for that.”