--- title: Wilbur Ross: Syria Airstrike Was After-Dinner Entertainment description: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called the April 6 missile strike on Syria "after-dinner entertainment" for Donald Trump's guests. canonical: https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-02T00:26:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:41:44.239Z article:section: Politics og:title: Wilbur Ross: Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' at Mar-a-Lago og:description: The Commerce Secretary was discussing being at the club when President Trump ordered the strike og:url: https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600f2f4f3a8c5b81/6988cb862dce01572f9ed497/wilbur-ross-syrian-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-mar-a-lago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: wilbur ross syrian airstrike after dinner entertainment mar a lago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wilbur Ross: Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' at Mar-a-Lago twitter:description: The Commerce Secretary was discussing being at the club when President Trump ordered the strike twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600f2f4f3a8c5b81/6988cb862dce01572f9ed497/wilbur-ross-syrian-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-mar-a-lago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Wilbur Ross: U.S. Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' for Mar-a-Lago > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 2, 2017 12:26 AM UTC  Wilbur Ross, U.S. secretary of commerce, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Monday, May 1, 2017. Wilbur Ross, U.S. secretary of commerce, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Monday, May 1, 2017. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 2, 2017 12:26 AM UTC U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross [called](http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/wilbur-ross-commerce-secretary-syria-missile-strike-tax-cuts-1202405269/) the [April 6 U.S. missile strike on Syria](http://time.com/4730231/us-missile-airstrike-attack-syria-donald-trump-bashar-assad/) “after-dinner entertainment” for President Donald Trump’s guests at Mar-a-Lago during a conference on Monday. Ross, a billionaire banker without previous experience in government, was describing Trump’s dinner with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Florida club. He was speaking at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference, known for bringing together [billionaires and leaders](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-01/billionaires-convene-at-milken-conference-for-trump-report-card) in Beverly Hills, Calif. “Just as dessert was being served, the president explained to Mr. Xi he had something he wanted to tell him, which was the launching of 59 missiles into Syria,” Ross said, [according to Variety](http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/wilbur-ross-commerce-secretary-syria-missile-strike-tax-cuts-1202405269/). “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.” The audience laughed at the remarks, _Variety_ reports, and Ross continued: “The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment.” At least seven were killed in the attack, [according to](http://time.com/4730231/us-missile-airstrike-attack-syria-donald-trump-bashar-assad/) the Syrian military. The airstrike took place two days after the Syrian government [used chemical weapons](http://time.com/4730107/syria-chemical-donald-trump-assad/) against civilians. \[[_Variety_](http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/wilbur-ross-commerce-secretary-syria-missile-strike-tax-cuts-1202405269/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Wilbur Ross: U.S. Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' for Mar-a-Lago","datePublished":"2017-05-02T00:26:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:41:44.239Z","description":"U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called the April 6 missile strike on Syria \"after-dinner entertainment\" for Donald Trump's guests.","url":"https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/","keywords":["White House","Syria","Business topic","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600f2f4f3a8c5b81/6988cb862dce01572f9ed497/wilbur-ross-syrian-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-mar-a-lago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600f2f4f3a8c5b81/6988cb862dce01572f9ed497/wilbur-ross-syrian-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-mar-a-lago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"wilbur ross syrian airstrike after dinner entertainment mar a lago","caption":"wilbur ross syrian airstrike after dinner entertainment mar a lago","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4762582/wilbur-ross-syria-airstrike-after-dinner-entertainment-donald-trump/","name":"Wilbur Ross: U.S. Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' for Mar-a-Lago"}}]}] ```