The President did not merely raise tensions with Venezuela; he removed the country from the category of “foreign complication” and placed it neatly into “completed action.” Since this is now a completed action, he is very proud indeed.

And so the Great Leader and his followers marched forward, confidently, decisively, and in no particular direction at all.

For with Donald Trump, decisiveness was never about choosing wisely. It was about choosing loudly—so that no one could hear the question quietly waiting underneath:

Is this actually working?

Donald Trump was inspired. In fact, he had a most glorious notion, this impulsive whim was conceived not in the dusty halls of learning nor among those afflicted with arithmetic or economic skills, but in the resonant chambers of self-proclaimed confidence.

The notion was this: that trade, being troublesome and full of numbers, might be better managed by sound.

Every playground has one. The child who, upon discovering he has a slightly larger physique or a louder voice, decides that diplomacy is for the weak and that shoving is a form of leadership. History, (or some people), it seems, has not outgrown playground recess.