As far as I can tell, there are three separate Trump policies on Syria:
- Just get out and let the Russians pay to clean it up.
- Assad is an animal who gasses his own people. We are prepared to use all of the weapons at our disposal to get rid of him.
- Create enclaves of allies who can be used as bargaining chips in the negotiations over the nature of the future of the Syrian government.
As to which of these will prevail, who the hell knows? It changes from day to day–sometimes from hour to hour.