Letter: Trump's adolescent behaviour does nothing to help end conflict

On a daily (hourly?) basis, new problems emerge, as his early White House tantrums come home to roost. Take, for example, his selection of big business fat cats, personal friends and family members to run and/or advise the major departments of state of the most powerful country on earth.

Not only are diplomatic and strategic blunders a regular occurrence, but he has as his press secretary (the voice of the President and the only person available to answer questions, tricky or otherwise) a man unaware of the sensibilities of the history of chemical warfare, not least the use of gas by Hitler in the Second World War. Sean Spicer out of his depth? You bet.

Trump's election-winning pledge to carry out his campaign promises brought admiration in many quarters. Problematically, those rabble-rousing promises took no regard of the political complexities surrounding the issues, best illustrated by the nightmare of Syria, where Assad's brutal dictatorship, ISIS fanaticism, "moderate" rebellion, Russian involvement and Western hesitation contribute to a hellish scenario. Into that scenario, on the evidence of distressing TV pictures, Trump sends cruise missiles, regardless of the absence of international agreement as to the origin of the chemical attack. (Assad has form in chemical warfare, but all sides in this conflict know the importance of PR, and are capable of arranging damning "evidence" of atrocities.)

Without UN support, Trump's unilateral missile response contributes nothing to end the conflict.

He remains a danger to mankind.

David Askins, Lightmoor

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