Washington: April 13, 2018

President Trump announced retaliatory air strikes against Syria in order to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack that killed more than 40 people.

“We saw this as the best option” said the President.

“Of course we considered other approaches that had previously been successful against our enemies”.

In a later off the record briefing of journalists, an administration spokesman explained that a series of tweets by the President poking fun at Bashar al-Assad, giving him a nickname, describe him as a slime ball or suggest repeatedly he resign was one of the options considered. But they did not want to unnecessarily escalate tensions by going as far as a tweet.

“Proportionality is important”, said the spokesman.

“But we reserve the right to escalate our response if Tomahawk Missiles raining fire from the sky is not enough.”

Only time will tell if the President treats President Bashar al-Assad like he treats those he considers his real enemies.