Trump's Response To Syrian Chemical Attack: It's Obama's Fault

President Donald Trump is blaming the Obama administration for Tuesday's suspected chemical attack in Syria that left at least 74 people dead.

"Today's chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world," Trump said in a statement. "These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also spoke out against the attack in Syria Tuesday, saying Russia and Iran — two of Assad's allies — should take responsibility for the dozens of deaths. 

In a statement, Tillerson told the two countries to "exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again."

Assad orchestrated a prior chemical attack near Damascus back in 2013, which killed over 1,400 of his own people. Shortly after that atrocity, Obama issued a "red line" to Assad warning him that he would have to face consequences for his actions. 

But, as NBC News pointed out, the Obama administration decided not to take action in Syria's now-six-year war because it feared Assad's ousting would spawn a more radical extremist group. 

When Obama "didn't cross that line after making the threat, I think that set us back a long ways, not only in Syria, but in many other parts of the world, because it was a blank threat," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, per Vox. "I think it was something that was not one of our better days as a country."

For the record, Trump hasn't always been a proponent of enforcing the "red line." Choosing to attack Syria now would be a dramatic 180 for him: After the 2013 chemical attack, Trump took to Twitter to tell then-President Obama to stay out of Syria.

Over and over and over again.

You can read Vox's analysis of Trump's stance on Syria here.