Trump wants to send Assad a message — but his options are all bad

President Donald Trump hasn’t hidden his desire to respond with military force to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s latest reported chemical attack that killed at least 49 people over the weekend. He has hinted that a U.S. military attack is imminent, declaring “We cannot allow atrocities like that,” and cancelled a trip to South America Tuesday in order “to oversee the American response.”

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“There is no easy policy option that will also be effective,” said Thomas Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Assad and his enablers have shown that they will not stop indiscriminately targeting civilians, either with chemical or more conventional weapons. The U.S. military has many potential targets to choose from, but there are no clear next steps, beyond punitive airstrikes.”

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