A conservative Washington Post columnist explained why Donald Trump's surprise Syrian pullout is a "Christmas gift to our enemies" -- and why the supposed "adults in the room" failed to stop him from doing it.
"At one time, the world hoped that an Axis of Adults could constrain the juvenile in the Oval Office," former Republican columnist Max Boot wrote Wednesday, "but such naive expectations have been dashed repeatedly."
Trump's pullout from Syria was lauded by the president as a "victory" -- but was derided even by his defenders, like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who called the decision "a mistake."
According to Boot, "Syria offers the latest example of the futility of expecting that lower-level officials can consistently save the world from the commander in chief."
When Trump declared in April that he wanted "out" of Syria following American military gains against the Islamic State, "his aides were concerned that this would represent a betrayal of America’s Kurdish allies and a victory not only for the Islamic State but also for Russia and Iran," the columnist wrote.
Those concerned aides delayed the pullout, but "just barely," Boot said.
When Trump tweeted Wednesday that the United States has "defeated ISIS in Syria," he managed to go against a State Department statement that acknowledged the fight was not yet won, the conservative writer pointed out.
"America’s Kurdish and Arab allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces will be hard-put to resist the group on their own, much less deal with the Turkish threat against the Kurds," Boot noted. "The likely outcome is that they will partner with the genocidal Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies — Iran and Russia."
It's clear, the columnist wrote, that the president is acting against the wishes of his advisers and illustrating "the Trump Doctrine in operation: Trump does whatever he wants."
"It could be based on what he had for breakfast — or there could be something more sinister going on," Boot concluded.
