His "great and unmatched wisdom"
by digby
Your president ladies and gentlemen:
Tom gave a good rundown of the issue this morning including the official White House statement Trump had his flunkies distribute last night after Trump spoke with Erdogan. That tweet is how the president reacted to the bipartisan criticism he's been getting for this abrupt, impulsive decision.
He gave Erdogan the go-ahead, said fuck you to our allies, the Kurds, and now the various agencies are flailing about trying to figure out how to handle this.
This is as crazy as it gets.
And yet ... Republicans will protect him anyway.
By the way, apropos of nothing, this move will benefit Russia above all. Of course.
Update:
Here's a statement from the State Department:
The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey - as did the President - that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria. The U.S. Armed Forces will not support, or be involved in any such operation.
In conversations between the Department and the Turkish military we have consistently stressed that coordination and cooperation were the best path toward security in the area. Secretary Esper and Chairman Milley reiterated to their respective Turkish counterparts that unilateral action creates risks for Turkey. As the President has stated, Turkey would be responsible, along with European nations and others, for thousands of ISIS fighters who had been captured and defeated in the campaign lead by the United States.
We will work with our other NATO allies and Coalition partners to reiterate to Turkey the possible destabilizing consequences of potential actions to Turkey, the region, and beyond.
Uhm. That's 100% bullshit. Here's what the White House said last night:
Update 2:
Chaos ensues. The following tweet was deleted:
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