'Buckle up': Abrupt Syria policy shift is sign of Trump unchained

[snoop1130]

'Buckle up': Abrupt Syria policy shift is sign of Trump unchained

by Matt Spetalnick, Steve Holland, Arshad Mohammed

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about Turkey and Syria during a formal signing ceremony for the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement at the White House in Washington, October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Over the span of just a few hours, U.S. President Donald Trump upended his own policy on Syria with a chaotic series of pronouncements, blindsiding foreign allies, catching senior Republican supporters off guard and sending aides scrambling to control the damage.

 

Trump’s decision on Sunday to remove some U.S. forces from northeastern Syria, opening the door to a Turkish offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in the region, provides a vivid example of how, with traditional White House structures largely shunted aside and few aides willing to challenge him, he feels freer than ever to make foreign policy on impulse.

 

While Trump’s erratic ways are nothing new, some people inside and outside of his administration worry that the risk of dangerous miscalculation from his seat-of-the-pants approach may only increase as he moves into re-election campaign mode facing a number of unresolved, volatile international issues, including Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.

 

He also made clear on Monday that he was determined to make good on his 2016 campaign promise to extract the United States from “these endless wars,” although his plans for doing so are clouded by uncertainty.

 

It comes as Trump is under growing pressure from a Democratic-led impeachment inquiry over his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate one of his political opponents, former Vice President Joe Biden.

 

“There’s a real sense that nobody is going to stop Trump from being Trump at this stage, so everybody should buckle up,” said one U.S. national security official, who cited Trump’s firing last month of national security adviser John Bolton as a sign of the president being less restrained than ever by his top advisers.

 

Trump’s policy whiplash on Syria started shortly after a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in which he sought U.S. support for Ankara’s planned incursion. Afterward, the White House said that U.S. forces “will no longer be in the immediate area,” suggesting that Turkey could be given free rein to strike Kurdish forces long aligned with Washington in the fight against Islamic State.

 

Trump, in a series of Monday tweets, appeared at first to double down on plans for a U.S. troop drawdown, but later threatened to destroy the economy of NATO ally Turkey if it took its military operation too far. That seemed to be an attempt to placate criticism, including from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, that he was abandoning the Syrian Kurds, who denounced it as a “stab in the back.”

 

CONFUSION AMONG TRUMP AIDES

 

The latest presidential pronouncements on Syria injected news confusion over U.S. Syria policy.

 

Last December, acting without any kind of formal policymaking process, Trump called for a complete U.S. withdrawal from Syria. But he ultimately reversed himself after drawing strong pushback from the Pentagon, including the resignation of then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and an uproar on Capitol Hill and among U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East.

 

Trump insisted to reporters on Monday that he “consulted with everybody” on his new Syria decision, although the announcement seemed to catch Congress as well as some within his administration by surprise.

 

“He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation,” tweeted Brett McGurk, who served as Trump’s envoy for the international coalition to combat Islamic State and quit after the December Syria policy uproar.

 

Trump’s abrupt decision on Syria came after learning in the phone call with Erdogan that the Turks planned to go ahead with a long-threatened incursion, a senior administration official said.

 

“We were not asked to remove our troops. The president when he learned about the potential Turkish invasion, knowing that we have 50 special operations troops in the region, made the decision to protect those troops” by pulling them back, the official said.

 

The official underscored that Trump’s decision did not constitute a U.S. withdrawal from Syria.

 

Trump made clear to Erdogan that the United States did not support the Turkish military plan, which came as a surprise to the Turkish leader, a senior State Department official said.

 

There was some confusion among senior officials to figure out what Trump had actually decided, a source familiar with the internal deliberations at the White House said.

 

But the senior administration official, speaking on a conference call with reporters, denied that Pentagon officials were “blindsided,” and Trump said he had consulted with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

PROMISED TO BRING TROOPS HOME

 

U.S. officials told Reuters repeatedly ahead of Trump’s decision that U.S. personnel would not be able to stay in northeast Syria if their Kurdish-led partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, were forced to turn their attention to a massive Turkish invasion. That view was reaffirmed on Monday, as officials warned that only a limited pullback was expected for now – but a larger one could follow.

 

“If it’s wide-scale conflict, we would not have a partner in northeast Syria,” one U.S. official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

The president saw his decision in the context of fulfilling a campaign promise to ultimately bring U.S. troops home. He visited Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday and awarded Purple Heart medals to a half-dozen wounded warriors.

 

Trump himself got into the subject earlier when taking questions from reporters at the White House. He said the United States had become a “police force” in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and he wanted to change that.

 

“I have to sign letters often to parents of young soldiers that were killed and it’s the hardest thing I have to do. I hate it,” Trump said.

 

Some independent analysts said, however, that Trump’s freewheeling way of making war-related decisions could further undermine U.S. credibility with allies and partners. He has already whipsawed on plans for a withdrawal from the long-running war in Afghanistan.

 

“We find ourselves involved in counterterror operations around the world,” said Fred Hof, a former Pentagon and State Department official. “Potential partners will be looking at what happened in Syria and drawing certain conclusions.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-08

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[Laza 45]

,,he did it to distract from his and his cronies dirty dealings in the Ukraine.. a desperate man.. and dangerous..  impeach him now! 

 

[Becker]

Link: Trump's betrayal of the Kurds is a gift to Putin and Assad

 

I'm not gonna say "just when I thought he couldn't go any lower" because I know there's no bottom to Trump's despicable actions - no bottom at all 

[PremiumLane]

[J Town]

15 minutes ago, Becker said:

Link: Trump's betrayal of the Kurds is a gift to Putin and Assad

 

I'm not gonna say "just when I thought he couldn't go any lower" because I know there's no bottom to Trump's despicable actions - no bottom at all 

Every time you think he CAN'T get any lower, the Republicans throw him a new shovel by not calling him out for his atrocities. BTW, both Lyndsey Graham and Marco Rubio have denounced Trump on this Syria decision. Of course, let's not mention Trump's admission on video of his conflict of interest with Turkey because of his personal property "Trump Towers" IN Turkey. When will enough be enough?

[mtls2005]

Sounds like the president single-handedly defeated ISIS? Amazing how much he uses "I"..."I did this...", "I did that..."

 

"When I took over our military we didn't have ammunition (09:20) I was told by a top general maybe the top of them all."

 

He needs to get that "sniffing" under control.

 

Mrs. McConnell is always smiling.

 

First question followed by 7 minutes of rambling.

 

 

[Becker]

45 minutes ago, J Town said:

Every time you think he CAN'T get any lower, the Republicans throw him a new shovel by not calling him out for his atrocities. BTW, both Lyndsey Graham and Marco Rubio have denounced Trump on this Syria decision. Of course, let's not mention Trump's admission on video of his conflict of interest with Turkey because of his personal property "Trump Towers" IN Turkey. When will enough be enough?

Hopefully very soon. We all knew that Trump is the opposite of both "stable" and "genius" but this really is mind blowing, even for him.

Here he is in the process of getting impeached and then he goes ahead and alienates the very persons who stand between him and getting booted out of the WH.

 

Link: Donald Trump isolated as Republican allies revolt over US withdrawal from Syria

 

PS. And who writes 'In my great and unmatched wisdom' about himself other than a complete and utter ****?

We've become so desensitized to his non-stop BS that what would in normal circumstances have made a person look like the dumbest clown on the planet is now what we expect from him. Amazing!

[Slip]

Thoughts and prayers America.  

[CharlieH]

reported troll comment and response removed.

[Matzzon]

Unchained? That must be a typo! Unhinged, it should have been.

[BigBadGeordie]

I will just leave this here, my work is done.

 

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that affects your moods, which can swing from 1 extreme to another. It used to be known as manic depression.

 

Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of progressive conditions that affect the brain. There are over 200 subtypes of dementia, but the five most common are: Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia.

[J Town]

We all argue about Trump being "unhinged" or "unchained." C'mon, no one can defend his actions as being those of a sane adult.  Even his Republican base has admitted he's gone off the deep end. When will enough be enough?

[Jingthing]

I heard him referred to by a pundit as a ROGUE president for the first time today. The point is he made this massively big massively important and massively unpopular change in U.S. foreign policy apparently on a whim from a phone call without consulting with or getting buy in from concerned parties. Expect more of this kind of stuff. He's under pressure.

[nobodysfriend]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Over the span of just a few hours, U.S. President Donald Trump upended his own policy on Syria with a chaotic series of pronouncements, blindsiding foreign allies, catching senior Republican supporters off guard and sending aides scrambling to control the damage.

 His chair should apparently not be in the ' oval office ' anymore , but in a mental hospital , and he should be tied to that chair .

[nobodysfriend]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

rump’s erratic ways are nothing new, some people inside and outside of his administration worry that the risk of dangerous miscalculation from his seat-of-the-pants approach may only increase

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“There’s a real sense that nobody is going to stop Trump from being Trump at this stage, so everybody should buckle up,”

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Trump, in a series of Monday tweets, appeared at first to double down on plans for a U.S. troop drawdown, but later threatened to destroy the economy of NATO ally Turkey if it took its military operation too far.

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Trump insisted to reporters on Monday that he “consulted with everybody” on his new Syria decision, although the announcement seemed to catch Congress as well as some within his administration by surprise.

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation,” tweeted Brett McGurk

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

There was some confusion among senior officials to figure out what Trump had actually decided, a source familiar with the internal deliberations at the White House said.

and so on ... This guy is NOT  a Diplomat , we know this for a long time , he does not even seem to be a politician , as his policies create more chaos than help to solve political problems by finding solutions and compromises , but now he seems to have lost his mind ...

[Tug]

Article 25 this is getting dangerous 

[riclag]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“There’s a real sense that nobody is going to stop Trump from being Trump at this stage, so everybody should buckle up,” said one U.S. national security official, who cited Trump’s firing last month of national security adviser John Bolton as a sign of the president being less restrained than ever by his top advisers.

 Another opinion from a unidentified source! The Potus replacement of Bolton a hawkish patriot served his purpose his replacement is in favor of bringing more troops home while supporting Mr. Trumps campaign promise of less presence in that region.

[Thaidream]

12 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I heard him referred to by a pundit as a ROGUE president for the first time today. The point is he made this massively big massively important and massively unpopular change in U.S. foreign policy apparently on a whim from a phone call without consulting with or getting buy in from concerned parties. Expect more of this kind of stuff. He's under pressure.

Agree completely.   It is fast approaching where the 25th Amendment may need to be invoked.  The key to this will be Pence and then if it would happen- Pence becomes President.  I'm not sure who in the end is crazier- Trump who  looks in the mirror and smiles at himself or Pence who  stands behind him and tells him he is indeed the  smartest and best of them all.

 

Every time I think it can't get any worse- it does!!

[Misty]

13 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I heard him referred to by a pundit as a ROGUE president for the first time today. The point is he made this massively big massively important and massively unpopular change in U.S. foreign policy apparently on a whim from a phone call without consulting with or getting buy in from concerned parties. Expect more of this kind of stuff. He's under pressure.

Wonder if these types of moves are provocation, i.e. he's trying to rush an impeachment vote before much of the most damning evidence has been collected

[Jingthing]

11 minutes ago, Misty said:

Wonder if these types of moves are provocation, i.e. he's trying to rush an impeachment vote before much of the most damning evidence has been collected

It's complicated but he isn't even demanding an impeachment vote. He's demanding a vote to begin an impeachment inquiry that has ALREADY been legally started. it's just a cynical game to fire up his base. It won't stop the process going forward. He's impeaching himself in so many ways. But another obvious question because it's TOTALLY OBVIOUS that he's guilty of multiple impeachable offenses, is IF Pelosi actually caved and held an impeachment inquiry vote (which she won't do) then does anyone actually believe the white house would start to cooperate then? Anyone that does, I have a bridge to sell you. Yes this is getting very ugly and scary and it will get much worse, but whether 45 fans like it or not, this totally legal totally constitutional process of an impeachment inquiry will move forward. The white house can stall a little here and a little there but at the end of the day, it's not going to work. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

“He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation,” tweeted Brett McGurk

 

That pretty much sums up the entire Trump presidency not just on Syria but on all kinds of policy issues and decisions -- a sad state of affairs for the U.S. and by extension the world.

 

Putin must be laughing his a** off..... on a daily basis.

 

[J Town]

16 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Putin must be laughing his a** off..... on a daily basis.

Right along with the REST of the world.

[sietau]

19 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

OHH !! I love it, best laugh I've had all week!

[soalbundy]

16 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

I will just leave this here, my work is done.

 

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that affects your moods, which can swing from 1 extreme to another. It used to be known as manic depression.

 

Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of progressive conditions that affect the brain. There are over 200 subtypes of dementia, but the five most common are: Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia.

and Trump has them all

[Misty]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Putin must be laughing his a** off..... on a daily basis.

 

Yup. While his operatives drink champagne...

 

"Kremlin-directed operatives opened champagne when Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to a communication disclosed in a new Senate Intelligence Committee report outlining Russia’s sweeping social media efforts to help him win.

 

“We uncorked a tiny bottle of champagne ... took one gulp each and looked into each other’s eyes .... We uttered almost in unison: ‘We made America great,’” one operative at the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency said in the message obtained by the Republican-led committee. "

 

-  Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-08/senate-intelligence-panel-warns-russian-meddling-continues

 

 

[Misty]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Yes this is getting very ugly and scary and it will get much worse, but whether 45 fans like it or not, this totally legal totally constitutional process of an impeachment inquiry will move forward. The white house can stall a little here and a little there but at the end of the day, it's not going to work. 

 

Agreed. Unfortunately it's not going to be pretty as all this unfolds.

 

"Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said the Russian interference campaign hasn’t ended and other adversaries are engaged in similar attacks.  “Russia is waging an information warfare campaign against the U.S. that didn’t start and didn’t end with the 2016 election,” he said. “Their goal is broader: to sow societal discord and erode public confidence in the machinery of government.” Burr said Russia floods social media with false reports, conspiracy theories and trolls to breed distrust. “While Russia may have been the first to hone the modern disinformation tactics outlined in this report, other adversaries, including China, North Korea, and Iran, are following suit.”  (my bold) - Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-08/senate-intelligence-panel-warns-russian-meddling-continues