Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday posted and then quickly deleted a tweet in which he contradicted President Donald Trump’s welcoming of a Turkish military operation in northern Syria.

As flagged by Politico reporter Dave Brown, Esper sent out a tweet on Monday afternoon in which he emphasized that the United States Department of Defense “does not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria.”

Esper went on to say that “we will work with our NATO allies and Coalition partners to reiterate to Turkey the possible destabilizing consequences of potential actions to Turkey, the region, and beyond.”

Esper then linked to a press release at the DoD website that reiterated the department’s and the president’s lack of support for a Turkish incursion into Syria.

This statement contradicts a statement issued by the White House on Sunday evening, which stated that “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria,” while adding that “United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”

Over the weekend President Donald Trump said he’d support a Turkish military excursion into Syria. Then, he tweeted out that he would not allow Turkey to abuse its power in the country.

The move frightened military leaders who didn’t think military policy should be decided on a whim and broadcast on Twitter.

Reporter Eliot Higgins spoke with a National Security Council official about Trump’s geopolitical shenanigans.

“Official who heard call says Trump got “rolled” by Turkey and “has no spine,” Higgins wrote.

In the wake of President Trump’s decision to withdraw 100 to 150 U.S. troops from northeast Syria, a growing chorus of Republicans are voicing their displeasure with the move, which essentially gives Turkey a green light to launch an offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in the region.

As Axios points out, among the most notable conservative voices decrying Trump’s decision are Senators Mitt Romney (UT), Marco Rubio (FL), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA), and one of Trump’s most consistent supporters, Lindsey Graham (SC).

Speaking to Fox & Friends this Monday morning, Graham slammed Trump’s “impulsive decision,” saying it has “undone all the gains we’ve made” and “thrown the region into further chaos.”

“I hope I’m making myself clear how shortsighted and irresponsible this decision is in my view,” Graham said. “This to me is just unnerving to its core.”

Also speaking to Fox & Friends was McCarthy, who said that the U.S. is breaking its commitment to the Kurds.

“If you make a commitment and somebody is fighting with you, America should keep their word,” McCarthy said.

In a tweet this Monday, former Arkansas governor-turned right-wing political pundit Mike Huckabee wrote that while he generally supports Trump’s foreign policy, he thinks it’s a “HUGE mistake” to abandon the Kurds.

“They’ve never asked us to do THEIR fighting-just give them tools to defend themselves,” Huckabee wrote. “They have been faithful allies. We CANNOT abandon them.”

Even Trump’s former envoy for the fight against ISIS slammed Trump over the decision. In a tweet Sunday night, Brett McGurk declared that “Donald Trump is not a Commander-in-Chief.”

“He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation,” McGurk wrote. “He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call.”

In another tweet from this Monday, GOP House Conference Chair and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, called Trump’s decision a “catastrophic mistake.”

“This decision ignores lesson of 9/11,” she tweeted. “Terrorists thousands of miles away can and will use their safe-havens to launch attacks against America.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is now pulling out all the stops in his quest to get President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to remove troops from northern Syria, which has been widely panned for leaving America’s Kurdish allies vulnerable to attacks by Turkish forces.

In a tweet posted on Monday afternoon, Graham decided to unleash the one attack on the president that might getting him to change his mind — by comparing him to former President Barack Obama.

“No matter what President Trump is saying about his decision, it is EXACTLY what President Obama did in Iraq with even more disastrous consequences for our national security,” Graham wrote. “Unlike President Obama, I hope President Trump will reassess and take sound military advice.”

President Donald Trump late Sunday night decided to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria – opening the area to an invasion by Turkey against the Kurds, who have helped the U.S. in the war against ISIS.

According to multiple reports Trump talked to Turkish President Erdogan Sunday night, then immediately had the White House issue the statement that he had called for the withdrawal.

Other reports say the Pentagon was “blindsided,” and learned of the decision news reports. Even Fox News is reporting the Pentagon was “blindsided.”

And yet, Monday afternoon, asked by a reporter if he had consulted with anyone, Trump lied.

“I consulted with everybody. I always consult with everybody,” he claimed. That claim is also false. Trump has a record of making decisions based on the last person he talked to and making the announcement himself, surprising everyone. In fact, in February Trump announced he was pulling out of Syria, but had consulted with no one, not even his top military commander in the Middle East.

Trump Monday afternoon went on to claim many people are “extremely thrilled,” including the U.K. Reports from earlier Monday say Trump did not consult with them either.

President Trump, in the video below, also lied once again, claiming when he bacame president the U.S. Military “did not have ammunition.” That’s totally false, also.

As President Donald Trump was being denounced from all political sides—both domestically and on the international stage—for his decision to rapidly withdraw troops from northeast Syria, reporting on Monday indicated Turkey has already launched bombing raids across the border in order to target the very Kurdish forces which long acted as key coalition allies and foot soldiers against the Islamic State (ISIS).

As the Jerusalem Post reports:

“Turkish forces carried out attacks against Kurdish forces and the anti-Assad Syrian Democratic Forces militia in Syria and Iraq near the Turkish border on Monday evening.

Turkish forces attacked SDF positions in the city of al-Malikiyah in the Hasakah area in northern Syria, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

The SDF includes Kurds and others in eastern Syria which the US has helped train, assist and advise during the war on ISIS.”

Earlier in the day, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who urged Trump to withdrawal American troops from the region, had warned that military action might come swiftly.

“We have made a decision,” Erdoğan told reporters before leaving the country on his way to Serbia. “We said ‘one night we could come suddenly.’ We continue our determination.”

While the Turkish government continues to treat Kurdish elements in Syria and Iraq—both the SDF and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—as terrorists organizations, both have been instrumental in fighting ISIS in the region as they’ve also sought to exercise political autonomy despite the violence and instability that has beset the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the later fracture in Syria that resulted in civil war.

“Turkey’s unprovoked attack on our areas will have a negative impact on our fight against ISIS and the stability and peace we have created in the region in the recent years,” said the SDF in a press statement. “As the Syrian Democratic Forces, we are determined to defend our land at all costs.”

On the subject of Trump’s decision and U.S. involvement, Amjed Osman, a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Council, said that “America’s attitude will create a negative impact on the whole region, and what has been built up here, the peace and the stability in this region.”

The decision to remove U.S. forces in this manner, Osman added, “will destroy all the advances, particularly with regards to security. We have always said that Erdoğan’s threats are serious. There is no serious international will to bring an end to the Syrian crisis. The Turkish threats mean that the situation in this region will return to point zero. There will be chaos once again.”

As even Republican lawmakers and foreign policy experts reel over Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to abandon Kurdish allies to an assault from Turkey in Syria, the president himself apparently has an explanation: “I have a little conflict of interest” concerning Turkey.

Trump made the comment in a Breitbart News interview in December 2015 during his presidential campaign when asked how he would handle Turkey and Syria.

“ I have a little conflict of interest ’cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump boasted in response. “It’s a tremendously successful job. It’s called Trump Towers — two towers, instead of one, not the usual one; it’s two. And I’ve gotten to know Turkey very well. They’re amazing people, they’re incredible people. They have a strong leader.”

He said then that the situation was “complicated,” adding, “I thrive on complicated.” Trump did not reveal what he would do in the region if he were to become commander in chief.

Trump still profits from Trump Towers in Istanbul, and the “strong leader” then was the same as now: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Though his continuing business interest in Istanbul is widely known, his own admission that it represents a conflict of interest is startling. Critics have long argued that Trump, as presidents traditionally do, should divest from his businesses to avoid conflicts of interest that threaten to put his personal benefit ahead of the nation’s.

In a late Sunday phone call with Erdogan, Trump suddenly agreed to let Turkey occupy a strip of northern Syria, currently controlled by ethnic Kurds who have been America’s most effective allies in battling the so-called Islamic State. Now supporters fear a U.S.-enabled slaughter of the Kurds, who have a centuries-long dispute with Turkey over self-rule.

“Everyone was absolutely flabbergasted by this,” retired Adm. James Stavridis said Monday on MSNBC, referring to the Pentagon perspective on Trump’s action. “Nobody saw it coming, and that is a real problem when you’re trying to conduct not only foreign policy ... but also military operations. That kind of whipsawing effect is extremely detrimental, not only in this tactical situation but strategically, as our planners try and prepare in other theaters, from North Korea to Afghanistan.” (See the video above at 9:18.)

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Monday that Trump’s decision had nothing to do with the Trump Towers Istanbul complex.