Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice in the Times yesterday:

This country’s national security decision-making process is more broken than at any time since the National Security Act became law in 1947. Nothing illustrates this dangerous dysfunction more starkly than President Trump’s reckless, unilateral decisions to announce the sudden withdrawal of all 2,000 United States troops from Syria and to remove 7,000 from Afghanistan.

These decisions went against the advice of the president’s top advisers, blindsided our allies and Congress, and delivered early Christmas presents to our adversaries from Russia and Iran to Hezbollah and the Taliban. The costs of this chaos are enormous, starting with the blunt, unnerving resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, one of the last senior administration officials committed to preserving American global leadership and alliances.

…

Cutting and running from Syria benefits only militants, Turkey, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Russia and Iran. We are abandoning our Kurdish partners, leaving them vulnerable to Turkey’s offensive, after they did the hard work of undermining the Islamic State.

But Turkey, Russia and Iran are going to be our new best friends. Aren’t they?

The near simultaneous order to withdraw half of the American troops in Afghanistan shocked our NATO allies, who have served alongside United States forces since Sept. 11, and shook the Afghan government in advance of precarious presidential elections next year. This arbitrary and precipitous withdrawal will strengthen the Taliban and undermine diplomatic efforts to jump-start reconciliation talks, while opening the field to greater Russian and Chinese influence.

But it will save money, which we can spend on Wall.

If our national security decision-making process were even minimally functional, there would have been a carefully devised plan to execute moves, including wrongheaded ones. The plan would have included strategies for mitigating risks to our partners on the battlefield and to friendly governments; advance consultations with allies; briefings of Congress; and a press strategy.

One reason our national security decision-making process is not minimally functional is because Bolton doesn’t talk to people and is always flying off somewhere instead of sticking around to talk to people.

The other, of course, is Mister Shit-for-brains.

The president couldn’t care less about facts, intelligence, military analysis or the national interest. He refuses to take seriously the views of his advisers, announces decisions on impulse, and disregards the consequences of his actions. In abandoning the role of a responsible commander in chief, Mr. Trump today does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary. Yet no Republican in Congress is willing to do more than bleat or tweet concerns.

Happy holidays.