WH reporter- From a senior U.S. official: "Mattis isn't the only one leaving." - Which shoe drops ne

[MelissaB]

From a senior U.S. official: "Mattis isn't the only one leaving." - Which shoe drops next?

Link to tweet

[maxsolomon]

1. who's not part of the grifter cabal?

who's left?

not Wilbur Ross. he has Trump by the short hairs.

Rick Perry? Ben Carson? why bother?

[Kaleva]

2. Hopefully it's Trump.

[Renew Deal]

3. Who is left that's not a true believer?

[benld74]

4. Afghan pull out

[Funtatlaguy]

5. Stormy and Susan pulled out too late. Will be interesting.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Bolton and Pompeo are not happy about Iran getting the extra influence in Syria

Analysts said the abrupt turnabout exposed serious divisions within the administration about Syria—especially between Trump and two of his senior officials, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—and revealed just how weak a hand the United States is playing in a nation that Bashar al-Assad, with the assistance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is gradually regaining control over. Just last week Brett McGurk, the presidential envoy for the global anti-Islamic State coalition, told reporters “it’s fair to say Americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate.”

“Trump never really bought into the arguments by Bolton and Pompeo that Washington needed to maintain a military presence,” not only to deal with the Islamic State but also to counter Iran, said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “They walked him back once before, but he was clearly not convinced.”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/19/trumps-stunning-about-face-on-syria-islamic-state-isis-trooops/