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.