On Friday night, the U.S. coordinated with the U.K. and France to launch strikes on Syria. The strike came in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons against civilians in the town of Douma. Trump had warned earlier this week that Assad would pay a "big price" for the attack.
The U.S. and its allies focused their strikes on three primary targets, including a chemical weapons research facility and a weapons storage area near Damascus and Homs, respectively. Trump touted the success of the strikes on Twitter, declaring "mission accomplished." While the U.K. and France have stated that this will be a one-time strike, Trump has hinted at the possibility of further action, saying in a televised address that he is ready to sustain his response until Syria abandons the use of chemical weapons.
Some experts have critiqued the strikes. Kamran Bokhari, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy in Washington, said that the strikes in no way attempted to weaken Assad's "conventional military capabilities," and were "little more than the symbolic strike from last year but steering clear of any major operation." The strikes seem unlikely to affect the broader course of the conflict.
Syria for its part has called the strikes a violation of international law, and has disputed their success. Russia, which backs the Assad government and which has disputed that any chemical attack occurred, has also denounced the U.S. strikes, but thus far has not responded with military action, perhaps in part because the strikes took place far from Russian infrastructure within Syria.
On the domestic front, scandals continue to unfold around the Trump administration. The offices, home, and hotel room of longtime personal Trump attorney Michael Cohen were raided by the FBI earlier this week in connection with a months-long corruption investigation. It seems likely that prosecutors are building a case against Michael Cohen to encourage him to cooperate and reveal what he knows about Trump.
This investigation is separate from Mueller's special investigation of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in the 2016 election, and possibly more damaging to Trump. Trump has been publicly critical of the investigation, and has turned many of his criticisms against Mueller personally, calling him "conflicted" and "crazy" via Twitter. Trump appears to be seriously considering firing Mueller, despite warnings from experts that this would be construed as an effort to quash the investigation and undermine rule of law.
All the turmoil may be too much for fellow Republicans. Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced that he would not seek re-election in upcoming midterms and would retire afterwards. Indeed, Ryan is just one particularly prominent Republican amongst a record number who are opting not to run again in the fall. That Ryan, who is in the prime of his career, is opting to retire is a troubling sign for Republicans in the upcoming election cycle.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, Trump has flirted with rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact, though he rejected it just a year ago because it was, as he once memorably called it, "rape of [the U.S.]." At least the prospect of a Chinese trade war has dimmed somewhat, with Trump thanking President Xi for his willingness to open the Chinese economy.