Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratcheted up the level of confusion about U.S. actions in Syria Monday, saying that Donald Trump would be "fully prepared" to use military force against Turkey if needed.
"We prefer peace to war," Pompeo told CNBC in a taped interview airing Monday. "But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action." This is after Trump and administration officials said they may or may not keep a couple of hundred troops in Syria to protect the oil.
Trump is still careening wildly between "we're bringing our soldiers back home" and "We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!" and "I'm trying to get out of wars. We may have to get in wars, too." That last one is the really scary one, considering Pompeo's latest little hand grenade.
Lurking behind all this is the very real possibility that Trump's people have one thought in the back of their minds: Conventional wisdom says a wartime president can't be impeached. That has to be a part of every calculation the Trumpsters are making right now.