message. which is i'm not afraid to go visit troops. this was starting to be a real question after two years without a presidential visit anywhere. secondly, he has damaged his political base. by firing secretary of defense jim mattis. i think he felt the need to show some port fsupport for the mili broadly speaking. he's trying to justify this withdraw from syria. which i and others continue is a bad move because it tactically opens up a lot of battle space for the islamic state. it opens up the political space for iran, turkey and russia. so what the president's trying to do is show he does have a plan. personally, not as good a plan as having 2,000 troops in syria.