Far smarter would be a primetime presidential address devoted to explaining and justifying the other controversial policy initiative of the past few weeks: the president’s decision, announced in mid-December (naturally) on Twitter, to withdraw American troops from Syria (and possibly Afghanistan as well). That change of direction sparked a conflagration of hostile coverage and the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and it has culminated in Trump’s own national security advisor (John Bolton) appearing to contradict the president.
This extraordinary display of turbulence and confusion on matters of war and peace certainly warrants a presidential address, if for nothing else than to clarify exactly what we are doing. Is the U.S. pulling out of Syria now? In a few months? Or in a few or more years? Has the U.S. defeated ISIS, as Trump stated in his initial tweets announcing the withdrawal? Or does more work remain to be done? If so, how much? And how long will it take? And what about the stories about halving American forces in Afghanistan? Are they true? Or not? And if they are, when will the draw-down commence?
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