--- description: Before he was president, Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. should not bomb Syria in a number of tweets from 2013 to 2014. title: 18 Times Trump Said the U.S. Shouldn't Bomb Syria image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9055078d8446ddd8/6988c1d27cdbac5752d57c65/aptopix-trump-us-syri_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 18 Times Donald Trump Said the U.S. Shouldn't Bomb Syria by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2017 3:13 AM CUT  President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, April 6, 2017. President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, April 6, 2017.Alex Brandon—AP by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2017 3:13 AM CUT Before he was president, [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4730107/syria-chemical-donald-trump-assad/?xid=homepage "undefined") wrote that the U.S. should [not bomb Syria](http://time.com/4729964/donald-trump-military-action-syria-chemical-attack/ "undefined") in a number of tweets from 2013 to 2014. As the White House [ordered strikes on Syria](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/9060/us-launched-tomahawk-missile-attack-on-shayrat-air-base-in-syria "undefined") late Thursday, several of those old tweets were recirculating on Twitter, especially two in which he called for congressional approval before launching any military actions against the Middle Eastern country. Following the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons on his own people, killing more than 80, Trump announced Thursday’s attack in [an official statement](http://time.com/4730215/syria-missile-strike-chemical-attack-trump-transcript/ "undefined"). --- > “” --- His stance on U.S. Syria policy under then President Obama dates back to 2013 when [Trump began repeatedly criticizing the potential for American involvement.](http://swampland.time.com/2013/08/26/kerry-obama-seeks-accountability-for-syrian-chemical-weapons-use/ "undefined") Below see Trump’s past positions that began to resurface as Trump hinted at military action on Thursday. June 16, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/346063000056254464) Aug. 28, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/372795204710830080) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/372943068267573249) Aug. 29, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373054743742275584) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373057367321374720) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373058887404228608) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/373146637184401408) Sept. 5, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/375609403376144384) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/375721267686412288) Sept. 6, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/376053255245008896) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/376114891381542912) Sept. 7, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/376334423069032448) Sept. 9, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/377038618407493632) Sept. 11, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/377783562512392192) Sept. 13, 2013 > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/378389940671107072) Sept. 12, 2014 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/510499676165259265) Sept. 17, 2014 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/512341480728698880) Sept. 20, 2014 > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/513249345857413120) This isn’t the first time that Trump’s past tweets have complicated things for the president. Here are [19 tweets](http://time.com/4724135/donald-trump-tweets-retweets-didnt-age-well/ "undefined") that came back to haunt President Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4730219/syria-missile-attack-donald-trump-tweets/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4730219/syria-missile-attack-donald-trump-tweets/"},"headline":"18 Times Donald Trump Said the U.S. Shouldn't Bomb Syria","datePublished":"2017-04-07T03:13:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:16:53.300Z","description":"Before he was president, Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. should not bomb Syria in a number of tweets from 2013 to 2014.","url":"https://time.com/4730219/syria-missile-attack-donald-trump-tweets/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Foreign Policy","politics","Syria","twitter","World","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9055078d8446ddd8/6988c1d27cdbac5752d57c65/aptopix-trump-us-syri_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9055078d8446ddd8/6988c1d27cdbac5752d57c65/aptopix-trump-us-syri_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX Trump US Syria","caption":"APTOPIX Trump US Syria","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4730219/syria-missile-attack-donald-trump-tweets/","name":"18 Times Donald Trump Said the U.S. Shouldn't Bomb Syria"}}]}] ```