I'm pretty sure this was orchestrated in advance by Putin and Trump. I've sensed for awhile a certain degree of coordination. I even think the Russian Troll stories were real, but the "hacking" stuff was nonsense and the "fake news" stories were just Russian trolls posting articles on Free Republic that we all knew were real. Trump vs. Russia narrative aids Trump.
Even if I am wrong on Russian-US coordination, Russia will still not fire a missile at US forces under any circumstances. Syria is not worth a nuclear war.
That's one hell of an assumption. If a US plane is shot down over Syrian air space, world opinion is going to be with the Russians.
Syria is not worth a nuclear war.
Some powerful people believe that the world would be better off with a population of a few millions. Others believe that a (limited?) war would be the only solution to America's awful debt problem.
They want to poke the bear. They have bunkers and no consciences; they don't care.
Evidently Trump thinks Syria is worth a nuclear war with Russia.