Trump Campaigned Saying He'd Never Alert the Enemy of a Pullout

Caption: U.S. Marine recruiting slogan, modeled after an old shipping commercial: "When it absolutely positively has to be destroyed overnight."

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump mocked then Pres. Obama for announcing in advance when he was going to pull out of whatever country he was planning to pull out of. Trump said, "As we know, in 2011, America hastily and mistakenly withdrew from Iraq. When I became president... I was given a bad and very complex hand... We cannot repeat in Afghanistan the mistakes our leaders made in Iraq."

Trump said he would never give a timetable for withdrawal. That would just encourage the enemy to keep fighting.

So. He would never telegraph his military moves. But now he's done just that. He alerted al-Assad, Syria's genocidal dictator; Russia; and Iran, all of whom are engaged in Syria's civil war, that he would pull American troops out of Syria and "let the other people take care of it now."

"The other people" are al-Assad, Syria's genocidal dictator; Russia; and Iran. Al-Assad was once thought to be a benign successor to his father because Bashar al-Assad is a physician. Well, so was Josef Mengele, who earned the name "The Angel of Death" at Auschwitz with his horrific and deadly experiments on Jewish children. Right now Assad, Russia, and Iran are winning the civil war in Syria because former Pres. Obama wimped out when Assad crossed the red line that Obama said he couldn't cross without consequences. There were no consequences. That failure to make Assad accountable for his actions was a disastrous message to our enemies that America would dither, not act.

Al-Assad, not coincidentally, launched a chemical attack after Trump's withdrawal announcement with reported sarin and chlorine gasses that have killed and maimed Syrian civilians since Trump wimped out himself.

Trump then tweeted that Assad is an "animal" and will pay a "big price" for the chemical attack. Will Trump attack Assad with Putin's permission? Trump has done little if anything to antagonize Putin so far. Trump ordered 60 Russian diplomats and spies out of the U.S., but apparently they will be replaced with 60 new Russian diplomats and spies. Will Trump risk angering Putin if Russian troops stand between American troops and Assad? Putin may be holding Trump loans, since Trump was in financial trouble (he filed for bankruptcy either four or six times -- six according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA), rejected by banks, and would have needed alternative funding.

On Twitter, "Unsilent Majority" tweeted that Trump was to blame for the chemical attack and expressed his frustration that Trump made a catastrophic error that caused the loss of innocent lives.

"Captain Qwark" tweeted back, "Be patient. Trump has to call Putin for permission and an empty location to waste missiles on. Then Putin has to warn Assad so the area is unoccupied. This type of attack takes time and coordinated planning."

Captain Qwark's tweet was funny, in a tragic-comic sort of way, and has more than a grain of truth in it.