Critical mass of clichés.

Six days later, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, introduced a similar resolution. “If not arrested,” he said, “withdrawing from Syria will invite more of the chaos that breeds terrorism and create a vacuum our adversaries will certainly fill.”^[1]

Whoa. "Chaos," "terrorism," "vacuums," to be filled by "adversaries." All in one sentence, pilgrims. Adversaries lurk everywhere, vacuums threaten if Americans mind our own business, and Americans must forestall or fill them to foil "terror."

That is state-of-the-art American foreign policy. Moronic intervention everywhere to chase down will-o'-the-wisps. "It's all about us" should be inscribed over the entrance to the U.S. State Department. Or maybe the thought, "Reforming the world, R2P, presidential whim, and "protecting oil fields" are not listed in the U.N. Charter."

Contemporary America is unrecognizable. We long ago left "functioning nation" behind in our rear-view mirror.

Notes
^[1] "Did Trump Outsmart Putin With Syria Retreat?" By Zev Chafets, ZeroHedge, 10/25/19.