Earlier this year, Trump abruptly announced the full withdrawal of American forces from Syria, a potentially-disastrous decision that could have allowed Turkish or Russian-backed forces to annihilate the Kurdish fighters who've done most of the heavy fighting against ISIS for us.
Depending on your own perspective, you may or may not say it's good that Trump was talked out of doing that, but he did not go quietly.
Trump eventually backed down in the face of overwhelming opposition from virtually everyone but, before he did, he reportedly tried to persuade critics by citing the number of 'likes' he received on Twitter. Sources who spoke to Politico say Trump called his social media manager, Dan Scavino, into a meeting to make his case for a swift withdrawal.
“Get Dan Scavino in here,” Trump called out in the middle of the meeting earlier this year. [...]
“Tell them how popular my policy is,” Trump instructed Scavino, who, according to two people with knowledge of the exchange, proceeded to walk lawmakers through the positive reaction he had picked up on social media about Trump’s Syria decision.
The sudden pivot from geostrategy to retweets and likes surprised the lawmakers. It was a remarkable moment given that not long ago Scavino was managing Trump’s golf club.
It's amazing that we've survived this long.