Is Trump smart enough to fake a military attack for political ends?

My first thought was that Trump committed an act of war against the Syrian government on impulse.  Sure, it his documented ideas were completely isolationist.  Sec. of State Tillerson said exactly that.

Then Trump saw poisoned children and infants gasping to death on TV, and he twitched the other way.  I was actually OK with that.  As arbitrary as it was, it still would have been the closest Trump has gotten so far to doing something ‘moral’.

Now I’m wondering if Trump was just trying to distract us again.  Last night, I dismissed the idea.  I didn’t think he was smart enough.  On reflection, I think it’s completely possible.  As much as the earlier distractions were ridiculously overblown, he has to raise the stakes.  His scandals keep hitting too quickly, and people don’t have enough time to forget. Instead, he has to find something bigger and louder with every new distraction.

It could be the Big Lie.  On reflection, Trump simply doesn’t have the moral standing to pretend that this was based on emotion.  His Muslim Ban slammed the door on the same refugees he pretends to love.  The last time Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad poisoned civilians, Trump was all-caps indignant (“DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA…”). Trump chose to shoot Tomahawk missiles that wouldn’t cause much damage to concrete, even though he could have used munitions designed to dig bigger holes in an airfield.  And yet, on this one thing, he goes off.

The proof will be in the pudding: will Trump allow those ‘beautiful babies’ into the country?  If he doesn’t change that, and quickly, he’s just lying to us.

Did Trump commit an act of war to distract us?  I don’t know, but under Trump, it’s depressingly plausible.