President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States would withdraw from the small buffer zone between northern Syria and Turkey, leaving longtime Kurdish allies on their own as Turkey reportedly prepares for an attack. The sudden change, made without consultation of many defense officials or Congressional leaders, drew rare criticism from Republicans who are usually loathe to do so.

To discuss what this means for American foreign policy and national politics, Jim Braude was joined by Rufus Gifford, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark and former finance director for the Obama reelection campaign, and Middle East and North Africa consultant Nasser Weddady, who spent much of his childhood in Syria as the son of the Mauritanian ambassador.