FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/RUSSIA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Monday [4-9-18] denounced the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria over the weekend as a ‘barbaric act,’ and said he will make a decision in the next 24 to 48 hours about whether to retaliate militarily as he did to a similar assault last year…Calling the attack ‘heinous’ and ‘atrocious,’ the president suggested that Syria’s patrons in Russia and Iran may also be responsible, and seemed to imply that he would take action of some sort to punish them as well…The challenge for Mr. Trump’s Middle East policy came on a day when he was already facing a transition in his foreign policy team as his new national security adviser, John R. Bolton, arrived for his first day on the job and the president was scheduled to host the nation’s senior military leaders for dinner at the White House. Mr. Bolton sat behind Mr. Trump during the cabinet meeting but made no comment while reporters were in the room.”
–Peter Baker, “Trump to Decide Soon Whether to Retaliate for ‘Barbaric Act’ in Syria,” The New York Times online, April 9, 2018