Has there ever been more confusion about what a U.S. president is up to? In the days since Donald Trump launched his war of choice against Iran on Feb. 28, it’s been impossible to get a straight answer out of him or his team about what his goal is. Does Trump even have one?
In fact, there is evidence that Trump does. And we’re missing the point when we focus separately on his various acts of aggression toward Iran, Venezuela, or Greenland, or on Trump’s previous pledge to his MAGA base that he wouldn’t start foreign wars.
What many of his critics fail to see is that Trump is very likely pursuing a broader strategic vision in his own mind, misguided and possibly delusional though it may be.
For those who have written biographies about him and perhaps know him best, the Trump vision is about discarding what he sees as a weak, failing world order and turning himself into the author of a new one that will always have his name on it.
“For Trump, it’s always been all about branding. Now he’s branding the planet,” said Gwenda Blair, the author of The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a President.
