Even as the military machinery cranked up to launch an attack on Iran on his orders in response to the shooting down of an unmanned American spy drone, Mr. Trump called it off.
Mr. Trump has always been a commander in chief of contradictions. He has adopted a modified version of Theodore Roosevelt’s maxim when it comes to overseas military threats — speak loudly and carry a small stick. Or carry a big stick but wave it around without actually using it much.
He talks like a bellicose warmonger but acts like an isolationist peacenik. He warns enemies that he will rain down “fire and fury” on them while striving to avoid more of the foreign wars he blames his predecessors for waging.
Mr. Trump seemed to calculate that tough words and a better-funded military serve as a deterrent that keeps potential rivals from daring to take on the United States. But critics argue that tough words themselves can be dangerous and, even if inadvertently, can escalate into a shooting war.
— Peter Baker, The New York Times
