It was Donald Trump who not only spent 2013 telling President Obama not to attack Syria, but who also reminded Obama that if he wanted to attack Syria he had to get Congressional approval first:
The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2013
In other words, Trump’s attack last night without congressional approval is, in his own words, “a big mistake.”
Donald Trump hasn’t demonstrably put a lot of thought into any decision he has made. He seems instead to listen to what the last person he spoke to whispered in his ear.
In this case, that person must have been Jared Kushner, who favors intervention, rather than Steve Bannon, who doesn’t care what happens to Syrian children.
Some of our allies – including Israel – are happy and say Trump’s action against Syria sends the correct sort of message to the world. China, Iran, and Syria’s ally Russia are not.
As a result of his launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles last night, Russia will soon have a frigate loaded with Russian cruise missiles anchored at the logistics base in Syria’s port of Tartus.
The bigger question for Americans is the limits on the president’s power to launch attacks, especially when that president has proven himself to be less than emotionally stable let alone well-briefed on facts he is more likely than not to dismiss as “fake news.”
Donald Trump himself stands condemned by his own words, and some Republicans, like Rand Paul, have indeed condemned him, while others, like sometimes-critic Marco Rubio, have applauded him instead.
Meanwhile, Trump’s far-right allies, reports The New York Times, say they’re “officially” off “the Trump train.”
Don’t mistake this for a pivot. Trump would have to have set a firm course to be able to say he pivoted from it. And that’s the problem: the lack of a set policy on pretty much anything, including foreign policy.
This single tweet by Greg Sargent makes that point all on its own:
Huh. Trump's Secretary of State says course of action Trump backed in 2013 helped normalize chemical weapons:https://t.co/8RpClARiT7 pic.twitter.com/J1EyyhRq5r
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) April 7, 2017
Opportunism – and this seems to be the rankest sort of opportunism, representing as it does a chance to distract from Trump’s many scandals – starts wars.
It is unlikely in the extreme that a Republican Congress will condemn Trump’s abuse of power any more than they will willingly investigate his ties to Russia, or force him to release his tax returns, or submit to a medical examination to prove he is even fit to hold office.
They didn’t even bother to vet his appointees. Why on earth would anyone think they would question his decisions? They haven’t and they won’t, not as long as there is a ghost of a chance of getting everything they want out of Donald Trump first.
In a word, you don’t have to be a cynic to be cynical about Donald Trump’s decision to attack Syria. After all, even he said it was a mistake.
- Resistance Leader Maxine Waters Receives Standing Ovation at MTV Movie Awards - Mon, May 8th, 2017
- A Desperate Trump Lashes Out As Sally Yates Prepares to Testify - Mon, May 8th, 2017
- Idaho Republican Claims ‘Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care’ - Mon, May 8th, 2017
