It’s truly fascinating to watch the headlines just this past month alone to try and figure out the transaction logic in so many self-contradicting thoughts, and the damage it is doing for perceptions of American leadership:

Dogs of War

• Terrorist killed by US: “he died like a dog”
• US dog injured by terrorist: “dog is our hero”

Troops Overseas

• Middle East policy: “troops must come home and abandon our assets to Russia; won’t fight for something not in our country”
• Also Middle East policy: “sending more troops than we had there before; must protect oil fields not in our country”

Overseas Deadlines

• Syrian deployment: “we don’t send troops forever, everyone knew it had to end”
• Also Syrian deployment: “our troops will be deployed there indefinitely”