Among the top (and astonishing) stories today is that President Donald Trump just announced he is pulling all U.S. troops out of Syria. Part of this huge story is that Trump literally just announced it. He did not, according to multiple reports, consult with any of his advisors, including Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
Deputy defense editor at Politico, Dave Brown, explain what happened:
Erdogan of course is the leader of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an authoritarian dictator – exactly the type of leader Trump reveres (see: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un.)
But here’s where the story gets even stranger.
Let’s let the senior national security correspondent for Defense One explain:
Corker is U.S. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, who just happens to be the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Someone President Trump might have wanted to talk to before deciding and announcing he is pulling out of Syria.
Williams adds that Sen. Corker “also says he’s certain no one in the Senate was informed.”
Oops.
A little over two hours later:
You read that right. The Republican Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations was in the White House waiting to talk with the Republican President for a previously-scheduled meeting and was told to go home.
Meanwhile, Corker just told Manu Raju, CNN’s Senior Congressional Correspondent, “I’ve never seen a decision like this,” referring to pulling out of Syria. He calls it a “massive decision … where nothing is communicated in advance.”
“For all involved, this was a major shock,” says Corker. “It’s obviously a political decision.”
This tweet from before Corker was at the White House sums up how people are feeling, including Senators and administration officials:
CNBC reporter suggests why:
Just how screwed up a decision is it to pull out of Syria the way Trump just did?
Meanwhile, the news that Trump ghosted on a GOP Senator is getting a lot of attention on Twitter: