April 14, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - It was clear from the first few minutes of War secretary Mattis's press conference last night that these strikes were going to be symbolic. They change nothing on the ground militarily. Russia's threat to respond worked - the US essentially backed down.

Far more important is the damage Trump did to himself politically. One can only guess at the pressures brought to bear on him to take this suicidal (politically) act. I'm starting to think that this whole charade, starting with the Skripal poisoning a month ago, was an elaborate plot to mortally damage his presidency, not to achieve anything in Syria - well, if so, the plotters have succeeded.

Trump has said and done many things that can hurt him over the past 18 months, but nothing as bad as standing up in front of the American people, and with great solemnity and invoking WW1 gassings, 'nobility' of warriors, prayer, and all this sort of talk, telling one whopping lie after another, looking straight into the camera. He knows they are lies, and a good chunk of the American electorate knows they are - I'm guessing 30% of the whole, and a good 50% of his base. That is not something you can come back from.

He just burned his bridges with a lot of people who think telling the truth is important.

Watching the conservative wall lining up against the bombing yesterday I wrote with great conviction that Trump would not do it, and confidently called it a day. How mistaken I was.

A video of Alex Jones sobbing is making the rounds, with a lot of schadenfreude from the left, and from those on the right who find it funny. But Jones is right, this is a tragic moment. He explains why he is crying, not because WW3 is starting (it most definitely is not), not because the bombings are an outrage (which they are), but because this is the end of the hope that Trump can succeed.

Alex Jones on Trump launching strikes in Syria... pic.twitter.com/FkPt3xnok4

— Andrew Peng (@TheAPJournalist) April 14, 2018

This will force Jones and the conservative base to turn on Trump. They will stay home in November. Syrians will weep today over their dead, as should we. We should also shed a tear for the death of a promise.

I listened to Trump's statement live last night. I was struck with the language. Who in the world writes this stuff? It reads like something written by Benjamin Netanyahu's press secretary. It is an embarrassment to America that our leader should be so beholden to other state's interests, and so willing to parrot their lies.

I keep asking myself, what could they possibly have on Trump that would compel him to do this? His delivery was a bit wooden, and he read off the teleprompter, somewhat resembling a hostage. We ran a story a few days ago from a body language analyst who argues that Trump is acting like he has been beaten this week. I'm starting to think she's right.

Doesn't he realize that nothing they possibly have could be as bad as this disgraceful lying? Lying is the absolute worst, the deadly sin that begets all the other ones. Any Christian understands that. Any relationship disintegrates when trust is lost.

It is a sad day. Trump just got beat, and beat bad by his opponents. It's time to look to other men to continue the revolution he embodied for a while. For that, at least, we should thank him.

The full text of what he said follows below. I counted 23 lies, which I underlined. I cringed watching a president I voted for stand there and parrot them, acting like he had a gun to his head. I know he knows they are lies, and so do 10s of millions of Americans. A sad day indeed.

Charles is the founder and editor of Russia Insider. He can be reached at charles@russia-insider.com. Follow him on Twitter.

This article was originally published by "Russia Insider" -