People are trying to make ANY sense out of this NY Times cartoon about Trump, troops & border security

There’s certainly a lot going on in this editorial cartoon published by the New York Times, all of it a bit baffling:

What are the president's priorities? https://t.co/oztmlc53oX pic.twitter.com/IX6iIK4xE4

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) November 1, 2018

That certainly does make a statement, but not perhaps what the cartoonist had in mind:

NYT thinks our troops want to fight in the Middle East instead of protecting America's border. #WrongAgainJournocrats

— AshSolesFromTheFire (@ashsoles) November 3, 2018

I "enrolled" to serve and protect my nation, not for some forsaken little country on the far side of the planet.

Setting troops in a defensive line along the border seems to meet that criteria to a T.

— 1/512 Klingon Christopher Valence (@ChrisValence) November 2, 2018

The cartoonist doesn’t appear to agree.

Average grunt voice, according to NYT: "I signed up to spread democracy, not protect my country's border!" https://t.co/JLyQpDHPBE

— Scott Greer (@ScottMGreer) November 3, 2018

Protecting our border should not be his priority?

— BurghFeeder (@BurghFeeder) November 3, 2018

Narrator voice: We weren’t fighting any wars in the Middle East.
Other Narrator: No one had enlisted to fight in the Middke East.
Third Narrator: They had enlisted not enrolled.
Enlisted Narrator: I’d rather be in Texas than anywhere in the Middke East. https://t.co/rN2UtOmXk7

— John Carney (@carney) November 3, 2018

Protecting the country. It's kinda his first responsibility.

— DCinNC (@DCinAZ) November 3, 2018

Ahh the New York Times, with a finger firmly on the pulse of…the American military.

— Paterfamilias (@PaterFam27) November 3, 2018

Yes liberal left @nytimes .
The US Army's mission is to invade foreign countries ^

— tomacell (@tomacell) November 2, 2018

The link to the article on NYT's website has it corrected to "enlisted",
but here's the screenshot just in case: pic.twitter.com/mb7QrNjBTK

— Nick Ross (@NickRossTX1) November 3, 2018

That’s certainly not the only thing that should have been changed.