Trump’s actions are calculated differently than Obama’a woud be or George Bush’s would be. Trump is placing markers on the board for others, for Iran and Russia, for instance, and for China. The first strike he made was similar. He did not do a lot of damage but China and Korea reacted as Trump desired them to act. They read his tea leaves properly. He is showing them that he will react on provocation and is capable of doing a lot of damage. The Russians know that the punch was “pulled” but they know what it could have done. The thing is it was not militarily necessary to do real damage to the Syrians but it was necessary to show others that Trump actually can punch and will. I suspect that Trump knows that our putative “allies” in the region among the rebel groups would be no better running things than Assad. He doesn’t need to promote them materially but he does need to publicly stick his finger in the Iranian and Russian eye.
Exactly my thinking.