For the last week or so, President Trump's foreign policy advisors have been ping-ponging

around the Middle East, meeting with leaders in Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.

This isn't one road trip. It's two. National Security Advisor John Bolton is landing one place.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is landing in another.

You know, the point of all these kinds of trips,

to sort of shore up the allies, assure them that everything's okay,

that their interests are being taken into account, that we're pals.

Back here in the U.S., Fred Kaplan has been watching and listening to what these guys have to say.

He slates national security correspondent.

And he says there's this problem.

The idea is to clarify what policy is, but there is no clear policy.

Because this administration makes decisions on the fly, Trump's deputies are engaging in a form

of political improv, especially after the president decided to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria

with the stroke of a tweet just before the holidays.

Well, I mean, the tweet reportedly originated with Trump on the phone with Erdogan, the president of Turkey.

Erdogan's motive is he wants to crush the Syrian Kurds whom we've been protecting.

And so Trump apparently says, you know, you're right. I'm out of here. It's yours.

And even Erdogan supposedly said,

well, wait, maybe not right away. Don't be too hasty about this.

So this trip over the last week, it's like the cleanup crew. Like I think of like a...

Well, here's the problem, though. What do they... The elephant keeps crapping on the circus floor.

So the cleanup crew, what are they cleaning up?

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