And even Trump allies say the president needs to do a better job of selling the troop withdrawal to the public, beyond tweets. Furthermore, the significant intraparty rift is coming at a time when Trump particularly needs Republican support as he faces the threat of impeachment. ADThe usual argument against removing troops, according to former senior administration officials, would be that doing so would cause widespread deaths and chaos and Trump would be blamed for it. ADBut current administration officials say many moderating officials like Kelly are gone, and longtime friends say the move is consistent with Trump’s worldview — and that he has long wanted to do this. “Typically, you want the people who are giving input to have credentials and have knowledge of the area, but I know that’s not the case necessarily today.”ADSome Trump allies were urging him to do more.

Source: Washington Post October 14, 2019 00:22 UTC