Trump warns ‘there may be’ US troops on the ground in Nigeria or airstrikes

• He says Christians are being killed in record numbers in Nigeria.
• He vows that the US will intervene to end the violence.
• He is threatening military action against a West African country.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US military could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out airstrikes to stop what he called the killing of large numbers of Christians in the West African country.

Asked if he envisioned troops on the ground or airstrikes in Nigeria, Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “It might be. I mean, other things. I envision a lot of things.

“They are killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They are killing Christians and they are killing them in very large numbers. We are not going to allow this to happen.”

Trump made the comments Sunday night as he returned to Washington after a weekend at his Florida vacation home.

Trump threatened on Saturday to take military action against Nigeria if Africa’s most populous country fails to crack down on the killing of Christians.

The US president’s threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Special Concern” list of nations the US says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.

Nigeria welcomes US aid, warns of dominance

Hours after Trump’s statement, Nigeria said on Sunday it would welcome US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected.

“We welcome US assistance as long as it recognizes our territorial integrity,” said Daniel Buala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. Reuters.

Buala tried to ease tensions between the two states despite Trump calling Nigeria a “disgraceful country”.

“We are not taking it literally because we know that Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria,” Buala said.

“I am confident that until these two leaders meet and sit down, there would be better results in our joint determination to fight terrorism,” he said.

Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people and about 200 ethnic groups, is divided between the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.

Insurgents such as Boko Haram and Daesh’s West Africa Province have wreaked havoc in the country for more than 15 years, killing thousands, but their attacks have been largely confined to the country’s Muslim-majority northeast.

While Christians have been killed, the vast majority of victims have been Muslims, analysts say.

In central Nigeria, there have been frequent clashes between mainly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers over access to water and pastures, while in the northwest of the country, gunmen routinely attack villages, kidnapping residents for ransom.

Nigeria “does not discriminate against any race or religion in the fight against insecurity,” Buala said. “There is no Christian genocide.”

No Tomahawks for Ukraine

As for Ukraine, Trump said he is not really considering giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles. Asked by a reporter on Air Force One if he was considering providing weapons to Ukraine, Trump replied: “No, not really.”

On October 12, Trump had said he might offer long-range Tomahawk missiles that could be used by Kiev if Russian President Vladimir Putin did not end the war in Ukraine.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Israel that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Zelenskiy’s request for weapons, including Tomahawks.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep into Russia, including Moscow.

The Kremlin has warned against any supply of Tomahawks to Ukraine and Trump has said it would be “a new step of aggression” if they are introduced into the war.

Trump Avoids SC Tariff Arguments

He also said he would not attend the upcoming Supreme Court hearings on the legality of his global tariffs.

The justices have scheduled a hearing Wednesday for arguments in the tariff case. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that despite his desire to be there, he did not want to be a distraction during the hearing.

“I wanted to go so bad,” Trump said as he returned to Washington after a weekend in Florida. “I just don’t want to do anything to deflect the importance of this decision. … I don’t want to draw attention to me. It’s not about me, it’s about our country.”

Arguments before the US Supreme Court on Wednesday will focus on the legality of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs in a major test of one of his boldest assertions of executive power on an issue that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.

The Supreme Court accepted the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump exceeded his authority by imposing most of his tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The tariffs were contested by various businesses and 12 US states.

Trump has defended the use of tariffs to balance global trade flows, citing years of high tariffs other countries charge on US imports. He said his tariffs boosted US revenue and sent stock markets to a series of record highs.

“If we don’t have tariffs, we don’t have national security, and the rest of the world would laugh at us because they’ve used tariffs against us for years and taken advantage of us,” he said.

“We were subject to abuse by many other countries, including China. For years, not anymore. Tariffs have brought us terrible national security,” he said.