Does Trump realize he is being manipulated or is this misdirection on the attack plans?
1. A poison gas attack occurred, maybe, in Douma, Syria, an area held by opponents of Assad.
2. Assad is winning the war on the ground. In actuality, he has no reason to use poison gas on anybody and risk more outside involvement. If the gas attack occurred at all, signs seems to point to a possible false flag operation, designed to get the US involved against Assad.
3. Trump knows all of this. He is a lot smarter than me and has access to much better intelligence, I think.
4. Trump knows also that, when you are being provoked like this, the best response is to do nothing. There will be no missile attack on Syria over this.
5. To make it look like he is actually doing something, Trump has moved significant naval forces into the area. This has forced the Russians to sortie their fleet in the Med and has scared the Syrians, I'm sure. It has also put the US in position for kinetic action if needed in the future. For now, the presence of a carrier battle group in the Eastern Med will have a considerable calming effect on everyone's behavior.
5. Being the genius that he is, Trump has decided to go with a course of action that faces Putin down and gives the US military a chance to monitor Russian tactics, communications, and radar operations.
The world is lucky to have this guy as POTUS.
I think he spoke to Russia behind the scenes. And is covering for them in exchange for their better behavior...not solely w/regard to Syria but in general.
Russia has had a rough week too with double whammy sanctions plus ruble collapse. They also have a lot more to lose — as some freepers have pointed out, with the World Cup around the corner.
“Does Trump realize he is being manipulated”
This.
And I’m sure he is angered by it.