Why the Syrian Withdrawal

Here's my guess as to what prompted Trump's mercurial Syria withdrawal.

The first two are well known, the third's the scariest, and has been mentioned by no one.

1. The boss in Moscow wanted this gimme (and, indeed, he praised the decision, buying Trump a bit more job security after he shamefully failed to deliver the sanction relief he was installed to provide.

2. Erdogan gets to eviscerate our most faithful longterm area allies, the Kurds.

3. Iran expands into the power vacuum, providing Trump with an excuse for the tail-wagging Iran war he's been quietly arranging for a while now.

How are people not seeing this? Do they really think Trump will allow himself to be cornered without starting a war? All the pundits were worrying about this scenario on day one of his presidency, and now, when the investigatory end game is in sight, and he's shifting pieces in the Middle East, no one sees it?

It's the same strategy Paul Ryan used against social security and medicare with that last budget. Ryan knew it was a horrendous budget that would provoke a deficit crisis, which would eventually offer cover for the entitlements slashing he'd long licked his chops over. It's always a problem when fanatics reach positions of power (and hold their noses to ally with venal autocrats). This appears to be the new Republican playbook all around: tank the country, milk the crisis.


Aside from that budget move and, possibly, this Syria move, consider: gov funding shutdowns, installing as heads of EPA, Consumer Financial Protection, and Labor Dept figures who despise the very foundations of those agencies, electing psychotic morons as president, etc etc.