Well, that certainly showed them …
What Donald Trump did was the very definition of a token gesture—all hat, zero cattle. Despite Trump’s I-saw-a-war-movie-once talk of the “element of surprise,” when it came down to a real world situation he slipped everyone advance warning so they could get personnel and equipment out of the area. The biggest thing the $1.4M each missiles accomplished was scuffing up some concrete.
That’s not to suggest that Trump should make a more extensive military move. The situation in Syria is complex, with multiple opportunities to build into a widespread conflict if someone blunders around, and blunder is Trump’s only setting. It may be that military intervention to remove Bashar Assad is the only option, and that there’s no way for that to happen but through the application of outside force. But making that decision both in haste and unilaterally is spectacularly dangerous.
However, there are actions Trump can take—right now, and without talking to anyone—that would save lives and offer genuine relief to people threatened by Assad’s actions.
- Drop attempts to reinstate the travel ban.
- Devote funds to accelerating the processing and acceptance of Syrian refugees.
- Raise the cap on how many Syrian refugees the United States is willing to accept.
The United States threw $80 million against concrete in a futile “show of strength,” which impressed no one but the pundits. We can keep making showy, but pointless gestures, we can commit the nation to yet another ongoing conflict whose outcome is the very definition of uncertain … or we can do something that will help.
Campaign Action