In an appearance before reporters with his short-straw-drawing Italian counterpart, Donald Trump answered questions about his still-inexplicable move to abandon Kurdish allies in northern Syria and move U.S. troops out of the way for a Turkish military invasion of Kurdish-held lands. He defended his decision by, of course, dumping on the U.S. allies, calling the Kurds "no angels." He is, as usual, such an aggressively stupid and ignorant man that his statements amount to little more than gibberish: "I view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria to be, for the United States, strategically brilliant. Our soldiers are out of there, they're totally safe. They've got to work it out. Maybe they can do it without fighting."
At last report our soldiers were not "totally safe," but retreating to alternate positions as Russian-backed Syrian forces move in from the south and Turkish military troops and militias press from the north. Does he not know? And the notion that "maybe" an ongoing firefight already known to have resulted in many deaths, bombings, roadside executions, and ISIS prisoner escapes will be worked out "without fighting" is ... nonsensical? Confused?
As Trump defends his abandonment of one of the few U.S. allies in the region by suggesting that they are "no angels" who perhaps deserve whatever they are getting and wishes Russia "a lot of luck" in Syria—no, really—the previously furious Republican opposition to Trump's betrayal has now all but dried up. It was Sen. Lindsey Graham who was perhaps the loudest of Republican lawmakers in warning of the extreme foolishness and danger of Trump's backstabbing move; after a meeting with Trump, Graham rolled over like a well-trained dog.
"I blame Turkey, but I look to President Trump to fix this," he told Fox News. Oh, buddy. Whatever Trump has on you, it can’t make you look any worse than you already do.
Graham and other previously furious Republicans seem to have been placated by a Trump call to Turkish leader Erdogan in which Trump asked Erdogan to halt the offensive, Erdogan told him to pound sand, and that was that. Merely having Trump create a plausible verbal distance between himself and the Turkish military incursion appears to have been the main goal; now that that has been done, in at least token fashion, prior Republican demands for Trump to reverse his decision and take steps to protect northern Syrian allies have mostly ceased. Graham and other Republicans are now focused on limiting the political fallout to Trump, and to themselves.
The long-term damages, however, remain incalculable. No group in the Middle East or elsewhere will be willing to ally itself with the United States again, not unless it is stupid. Syria will now be a closely held Russian satellite. ISIS will, say experts, regroup and launch new offensives.
And putative NATO ally Turkey has proven Trump, at least, to be a paper tiger, unwilling to stomach confrontation and eager to acquiesce to anyone he perceives to be stronger than himself. Trump's own credibility on the world stage has dropped from zero to a net U.S. liability: It is likely that hostile foreign leaders can get more from the man than his own U.S. advisers and federal officials can.