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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Is Scaring the Hell Out of His Advisers Right Now
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/trump-is-scaring-the-hell-out-of-his-advisers-right-now/Trump Is Scaring the Hell Out of His Advisers Right Now
New reports shed light on the presidents chaotic Syria policy and beyond.
Inae Oh
Apr. 6, 2018 12:06 PM
Several reports this week paint an increasingly chaotic portrait for President Donald Trumps Syria strategy, with those close to the commander-in-chief voicing concerns over his sudden demands to immediately withdraw US troops from the country. Trumps national security team and military leaders have reportedly persuaded himfor nowto allow them five to six months to complete a withdrawal of the 2,000 American troops in Syria, though they warned the president that such an approach would still come with significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a US vacuum, according to the Associated Press.
In a remarkable story Friday, the AP reported Trump is prohibiting members of his national security team from referring to this five-to-six-month timetable as timeline, despite the fact that the president indicated that he did not want to hear in October that the military had been unable to fully defeat the Islamic State and had to remain in Syria for longer. Trump has long criticized former President Barack Obama for, in Trumps view, unwisely telegraphing US military strategies.
The reports come just days after Trump announced that its time to get out of Syria. The unscripted remarks alarmed both administration officials and international leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home, he said. I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have, as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the Middle East the last seven years. We get nothing out of it, nothing.
Another report, published Thursday by the Washington Post, revealed a startling moment during a military meeting when a CIA official showed Trump a recording of a drone operation in Syria, in which US forces had held off on striking a target until he had moved away from a house where family members were likely inside.
Why did you wait? Trump asked, appearing unenthused. It was a question that recalled one of Trumps more inflammatory suggestions during the presidential campaignhis belief that to successfully eradicate ISISs presence, US forces would need to take out their families. He said in December 2015: They care about their lives, dont kid yourself. When they say they dont care about their lives, you have to take out their families.
The alarming reports add to anxiety in the White House, where, Axios Mike Allen writes, Checks are being ignored or have been eliminated, and critics purged as the president is filling time by watching Fox, and by eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants.
yonder
(9,666 posts)are as chilling as they are sobering.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)I don't know how many times I've said that I can't imagine what it would take from him to truly surprise me any more.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)The answer to "Why not take out the families too?"
is
"That's what terrorists do. Take out families including children."
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)"Let's bomb North Korea today!"
Maybe you should give your big policy talk on tariffs first
"Tariffs! I know a lot about tariffs! It's true! Lock her up! Mexico will pay for it!"
Girard442
(6,072 posts)People, the idea that you're doing a duty by staying there and moderating him has died a horrible death. If you're there you're either an enabler or a saboteur. Ain't no other positions open.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Scary
lpbk2713
(42,757 posts)babylonsister
(171,065 posts)spanone
(135,832 posts)dumbfucks
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)God help us.
catbyte
(34,386 posts)[IMG][/IMG]
ailsagirl
(22,897 posts)TeamPooka
(24,226 posts)Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)magicarpet
(14,150 posts)Commander Cry-Baby.
Vinca
(50,271 posts)and bad happens. He's not informed about anything, has no interest in being informed about anything and is issuing decrees like a drunken monarch. Meanwhile, the only people who can do anything about it - the Republican majority party - are silent. And yet they claim to love our country.