Out with the old, and in with the new. Along with “the old” goes any sense of reason.

With the recent decision by the Trump administration to pull U.S. forces out of Syria, questions have arisen as to the decision making process that takes place in the Oval Office and the West Wing at large. Is there clear leadership, or does the President simply run hither and yon making decisions as he sees fit?

According to NPR, the recent decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria did not involve many key individuals in the process, such as officials at the Pentagon and other top military leaders. The decision was simply announced via the White House, with the Pentagon being informed of the decision at the same time as the general public. The decision itself has been met with severe backlash from both sides of the aisle with many of the President’s most ardent supporters, such as Senator Lindsey Graham, who, according to CNN, called the move “shortsighted and irresponsible.” And just days after U.S. troops were removed from the border between Syria and Turkey, Turkey began a major military movement against the U.S. allied Kurdish fighting forces.

So why should we care? The issue we are seeing is the extreme executive power of the President at work. Let us make one thing clear: the President is under no obligation to listen to any advice from any of his advisers, both inside and outside of the White House. But by choosing this path, the President loses valuable input on an area of the world where calling the situation complex is an understatement. And this is what this decision amounts to: a sudden major military movement without any consultation or notification of the actual military, and it is alarming.

In reality, this is nothing new. According to Foreign Affairs, the President adopted this strategy months ago in the leadup to his first meeting with Kim Jung-Un of North Korea. Rather than rely on the advice and input of senior advisors from multiple agencies, the President went in on effectively his gut instinct. And this is a real problem.

How can the government function with a President who refuses to involve the key parts of his administration on earth-shaking decisions? There is no way that the U.S. can maintain any sort of credibility on the world stage if the leader of our nation refuses to take council on matters that affect more than just the U.S., and makes decisions that could have dire consequences simply on a whim.