Trump warns ‘Animal Assad,’ Putin in wake of Syria chemical attack
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s stunning direct condemnation of Vladimir Putin in a tweet yesterday for his role in backing “Animal” Bashar Assad’s brutal regime made headlines. But the only meaningful course of action for Trump now is to take decisive action — not just against Syria, but also against Russia and Putin himself.
Trump can start by simply taking a page from his own book — using the same strong hand on Russia that he exerted on China to help get Kim Jong Un to agree to a summit with him. Putin is the key to any hope of getting Assad to agree to diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Syrian atrocities. But Putin won’t move if Trump won’t force his hand.
That seems like a tall order on its face. Trump’s persistent reluctance to criticize Putin, even in the face of Russian aggression against the United States and its allies, has become a hallmark of his presidency.
Trump’s soft handling of Putin has frequently put him at odds with the actions of his own administration. In the last weeks alone, the U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats, shuttered Russia’s consulate in Seattle and slapped new sanctions on Russian oligarchs — moves Trump barely acknowledged.
But all indications show little likelihood that Putin, who has maintained his support of the Assad regime despite past sanctions and general U.S. blowback, will change course without a change in tone and action by Trump himself.
Foreign policy experts have credited Trump’s pressure on China, coupled with the steady diet of sanctions against North Korea, for getting North Korea to the table. Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns, who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, credited Trump for keeping “Kim Jong Un off-balance” in a CNBC interview.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for Trump to take the same decisive action on Syria. U.S. Sen. John McCain yesterday even blamed Trump’s call last week to pull U.S. troops out of Syria for emboldening Assad “and his Russian and Iranian backers” and paving the way for the latest brutal chemical attack.
McCain acknowledged Trump’s tough-talking tweet, but added: “The question now is whether he will do anything about it.”
Aside from airstrikes on Syria, which a year ago failed to stop Assad’s reign of terror, Trump’s best recourse is to step up sanctions and turn up the U.S. launched pressure on Putin to get to Assad.