The Germans had no idea we planned this, apparently. 

Trump thinks that announcing plans to retake a city is the same as giving away troop movements. 

Yesterday evening, Donald J. Trump, military genius, Tweeted his very smart and learned knowledge about the military.

Just announced that Iraq (U.S.) is preparing for battle to reclaim Mosul. Why do they have to announce this? Makes mission much harder

Here’s the thing, Donald: they know. I’m not a military expert by any stretch. Not even particularly knowledgeable about it. But I know a few things.

1. ISIS already knew that we wanted to retake Mosul. The point is to destroy any sanctuary they had. ISIS wasn’t like “they’re going to leave us alone, right?”
2. Strategy is different than actual plans. The Germans knew the US wanted to liberate France and overthrow the Nazi regime. They didn’t know exactly when, or how, but they knew it was going to happen. Remember, they had defensive outposts at Normandy. You might have seen something about that. Pretty big battle!
3. That’s because things like retaking a city or country don’t happen by surprise. You don’t send a ragtag group of devil-may-care soldiers in disguise as traveling merchants to suddenly storm city hall when no one suspects it and take over. That doesn’t happen! These are large campaigns, and, again, ISIS already knows that Mosul is a target.
4. One reason you announce it as well is to try to demoralize fighters who might be on the fence about sticking with ISIS. They could see this as a reason to skeedaddle. It also helps to lift the spirits of the people of Mosul, in theory. Probably not, but that’s a reason.
5. Because, again, these aren’t surprise campaigns.

It’s easy to say that Trump was just doing “Obama does X, X is bad”, but it’s more. It’s not like these were leaked plans and the general are furious. This is part of an overall military strategy. But he doesn’t know, and doesn’t care, about any of that. He only knows, and cares, about his core beliefs, which is that he knows better than everyone else. Including the generals. Especially them. And this is the man that millions want to be President.

It’s fun because he always talks about how much he likes McArthur. I wonder if he thinks that his famous “I shall return” line about the Philippines was giving the game away.