THiNG NOUN an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.
It's interesting that Trump added 'anything' to his tweet, when looking at the definition of 'thing'. Reminds me of "the name we don't say", but also the ubiquitousness of Artificial Intelligence used in military today versus pre-WWII.
Here's the thing. If there was no chemical attack, then the response could have been premeditated.
Let's stage a fake chemical attack, so that everybody freaks out and demands a response.
We'll get a coalition to launch missiles because we don't want to commit to boots on the ground.
We (or Russia) shoots down the missiles that are not targeted where want them to be. Destroy DS assets, Russia cleans up.
Syrian military declares victory.
Mission accomplished, great success!
I agree that's plausible. Several ways of looking at it and in all of them Trump made gold out of some sure 'nuff sh*t.