Putin Is Eager To See U.S. Nukes Removed From Turkey

The Axios headline was both disturbing and likely inaccurate: Pelosi and Graham team up to oppose Trump's Syria decision. There's a whiff of an implication that they're trying to somehow change Trump's decision. As unlikely as it is, Trump's the commander-in-chief, as well as an ignorant moron. And as Pelosi knows-- even if Graham doesn't-- there is no way for Congress to overrule his decision. In this matter, he's in charge; they're not. Pelosi is already working on making sure there's a new commander-in-chief as soon as possible. Graham's working just as hard to make sure Trump is the commander-in-chief for another 5 years and a month.

Politico reported that bipartisan efforts will be used "to overturn President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops." That will never happen; it's as insane as Trump is. What they're actually doing that makes sense is preparing harsh sanctions against Erdoğan's government, which might be effective-- and might be the only alternative to doing nothing-- although a sanctions regime carries some very serious risks as well.

Under normal circumstances-- with a normal president and State Department, regardless of party-- something like this would have been handled diplomatically, not as part of a childish twitter rampage aimed at reelection. Pelosi on her conversion with Graham: "Our first order of business was to agree that we must have a bipartisan, bicameral joint resolution to overturn the President’s dangerous decision in Syria immediately," whatever that means. "Next, we must put together the strongest bipartisan, bicameral sanctions package similar to the bipartisan bill the House is advancing. As we find ourselves in a situation where the President gave a green light to the Turks to bomb and effectively unleashed ISIS, we must have a stronger sanctions package than what the White House is suggesting."

Graham spoke about the conversation as well: "Speaker [Pelosi] supports bipartisan sanctions against Turkey’s outrages in Syria. She also believes we should show support for Kurdish allies and is concerned about the reemergence of ISIS. I will be working across party lines in a bicameral fashion to draft sanctions and move quickly, appreciating President Trump’s willingness to work with the Congress. The Speaker indicated to me that time was of the essence."

Erdoğan's government has claimed from the start that Trump knew exactly what Turkey was planning, when he gave them the thumbs up to invade the Kurdish enclave in Northern Syria. How did Trump know? Erdogan sought his assistance, which he provided-- withdrawing U.S. troops from the area and leaving the our Kurdish allies and their families to Erdoğan's tender mercies.

The U.S. has a major airbase in Adana in southern Turkey, Incirlik, and Russia has been wanting to see the 50 U.S. nuclear weapons out of there; that has a lot to do with why Putin has stirred up trouble between Erdoğan and the easily manipulated Trump. The last time the U.S. put sanctions on Turkey was in 1978 when Turkey invaded Cyprus. The Turks came close to shutting down Incirlik then but decided to just suspend all operations instead. The EU has already imposed an arms embargo against Turkey and Trump will do that even without a congressional resolution, which is likely to be much stronger than what Trump wants. Removing those nuclear weapons is being actively discussed in the Pentagon.

Erdoğan has threatened to send millions of refugees into Europe as retaliation. He was in Baku yesterday-- not staying at the dilapidated Trump Tower there-- and he told the media that he will react forcefully to NATO attempts to isolate Turkey. "We are determined to take our operation to the end. We will finish what we started,” he said. “A hoisted flag does not come down. Erdoğan is a dick-- like Trump-- but Turkey is a strong American ally. Someone should be treading carefully.

The nuclear weapons are now Erdoğan's hostages. This is exactly the kind of situation where having a hothead and impetuous know-it-all sitting in the Oval Office poses dangers for the U.S. and the rest of the world. Jim Himes (D-CT) is a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee and chair of its Subcommittee on Strategic Technologies. Earlier today he told me that "Trump has fatally abandoned our only real ally in the region, the Kurds, stirred the ISIS hornets’ nest and given Russia, Assad and Iran a free hand. For which he got what?"

Ted Lieu (D-CA) is usually thought of as one of the most brilliant minds on the House Judiciary Committee. OK-- but he's also one of the most valuable members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This evening he reminded us that "The Kurdish people have been one of America's staunchest allies for decades. In 1996 I participated in Operation PACIFIC HAVEN, where the DoD airlifted Kurds out of Iraq and into Guam. We did this because the Kurds helped the United States fight Saddam Hussein and we had a duty to protect them from violent retaliation. More recently the Kurds helped the United States fight ISIS. Our strategy to contain and retake territory from ISIS in Syria was successful primarily due to the sacrifices of thousands of Kurdish fighters on the ground. Anyone who has heard me speak about foreign policy knows that I believe we should not be engaged in endless war around the globe. As a veteran, I am in favor of bringing our troops home. But we must end these engagements in a smart and strategic way that honors our commitments and protects our men and women in uniform. Trump's reckless decision to abandon our allies has destabilized the entire region. It has pushed the Kurds into an unholy alliance with Assad and Putin, allowed hundreds of ISIS affiliates to escape from Kurdish-run prisons, put our troops in harms way, and endangered our national security."

 Andy Levin (D-MI) is an influential member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of its Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation. He's also deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This morning, in a note about Trump, he told me that "truly, on top of all of his impeachable offenses, we have never confronted a president as uncoachable, as unstable, as ignorant and as insecure-arrogant as Trump in modern times. His ability to make a complete disaster of foreign policy on a whim while on the phone with a foreign strongman (pant, pant, pant) has darn nearly accomplished the impossible-- uniting Congressional Democrats and Republicans."

Tom Suozzi (D-NY), the sharpest member of Congress from Long Island, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, told me today that "There are all kinds of theories about what game the President is playing-- helping Erdogan, helping Putin, business gain, ignorance, naivite, total lack of judgement, or more likely, trying to change the front pages to help his re election. The bottom line, however, is this is not a game. This is serious business. It is life and death. ISIS. World balance of power. War. People’s existence. Just like healthcare, immigration, gun violence prevention, climate change and so much more are serious life and death issues for real people. Freedom and democracy are serious business. This is no time for game playing. Times up."

A Putin puppet, Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, leader of Russian nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, proclaimed just before the U.S. election that if Trump won, Russia would "drink champagne in anticipation of being able to advance its positions on Syria and Ukraine."