Syria attack more of a message to North Korea?

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Brilliant move.

He campaigned as a Strong Man to replace a Weak Man. One of Obama's most notorious foreign policy frick-ups (and they are legion, btw) was the "Red Line" in Syria. It was a frick-up because if you're going to talk about "Red Lines", you need to be prepared to actually.....you know....DO something if someone crosses your red line.

Supposedly, the "Red Line" was chemical weapons. But then Assad used chemical weapons and Obama did....nothing.

Enter Putin. America is clowned. We lose influence and respect. We look weak. Weakness invites boldness, etc. etc. etc.

So here we are today. And everything is a fricking mess. And the ripple effect is literally killing people all over the world (and now a couple of hours ago in Sweden, as I see by my newsfeed), thanks to the "refugee crisis" that is now causing otherwise sensible countries to welcome in and subsidize their own invaders.

What Trump needed was (in the words of Jackie Gleason) an "Attention Getter". Something to show that there is a new sheriff in town and this sheriff has the capability AND the will to frick your shite up on a moment's notice. If you want to play big-boy games, you need to remember who the real big boy is so.....here's a little reminder for you. Nothing big. Nothing that escalates.

Just a little "shot across the bow" that says, "hey, frick-o. Remember me?". But that's just something that any decent new President should do.

That's not what made it brilliant.

What made it brilliant is that he did it while hosting the Chinese president at Mar-a-Lago. A summit between the two foremost economic powers in the world is a big deal. A summit between those two powers in the midst of the current friction in that part of the world (N. Korea missile games, territory disputes, etc.) is a huge deal.

A summit between those two powers in the midst of the current friction when the newly elected leader of one of them has explicitly spoken out against the other one for decades and went out of his way to irritate them within 48 hours of taking office is a fricking ginormous deal.

Against that backdrop, Trump ordered a cruise missile strike into the most volatile place in the world where no less than six armies are currently fighting because (ostensibly) someone did something he didn't like.

So he started lobbing missiles over the heads of the Russians, the Iranians, the Syrians, ISIS, etc. Just to make a fricking point.

And then he sat down and had dinner with the Chinese president. And the missiles hit, right about the time the main course was being served. And the Chinese president was informed of it while he was sitting across the table and looking into the eyes of the man who just had the balls to do that. Holy.....fricking......shite.

I like to imagine that right after the Chinese advisors were done whispering the news to the Chinese President, Trump said something like this (while chewing a mouthful of food): "Hell of a situation we've got there in North Korea, Long Duc Dong. Hell of a situation. You know, it might be better for all of us if you guys handled it instead of us. Whaddya think? By the way, can you pass me that salt? This chicken's a little bland".

I don't give a frick about Syria or Assad. I don't think Trump gives a frick about Syria or Assad. But I DO think Trump wanted the opportunity to give the world an "Attention Getter". And a chemical weapons attack is a perfect opportunity.......whether it really happened or not.

And fwiw, the Russians were warned 30 minutes in advance that some missiles that fly about as fast as the average commercial airliner were inbound. They had the capability to blow those missiles out of the sky 20 times over before they struck.....and yet they didn't. Odd, huh?

Anyway, I applaud the move. I applaud the message. I applaud the way he did it (no "coalition", no UN approval, no waiting, and timed to coincide with his dinner with the Chinese president). Outstanding. Borderline genius, actually.

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Obama's promise was empty because he couldn't get congressional approval for airstrikes from the same people who are now praising Trump for launching 50+ Tomahawks without Congressional approval..

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