Trump's erratic approach isn't random; it's a strategy to create chaos and uncertainty. This keeps adversaries off-balance, allowing him to exploit openings that emerge, much like a disruptive CEO. He is comfortable with instability and uses it as a tool for negotiation and advantage.

Unlike predecessors who framed foreign policy within a broader worldview (e.g., democracy promotion), Trump's approach is purely transactional and theatrical. It lacks a moral or ideological justification, instead focusing on demanding tribute, like oil from Venezuela, to appeal to a nationalist base without building a durable governing coalition.

Trump's 'hokey pokey' with tariffs and threats isn't indecisiveness but a consistent strategy: make an agreement, threaten a severe and immediate penalty for breaking it, and actually follow through. This makes his threats credible and functions as a powerful deterrent that administrations lacking his perceived volatility cannot replicate.

Unlike past administrations that used pretexts like 'democracy,' the Trump administration openly states its transactional goals, such as seizing oil. This 'criming in plain sight' approach is merely an overt version of historical covert US actions in regions like Latin America.

The US's global power is eroding due to debt and inflation. Trump's aggressive foreign policy is not random; it's a high-risk strategy to press America's current advantage and re-establish dominance before rivals like China can take over. The only alternative is accepting a managed decline.

Trump's direct, aggressive actions often achieve immediate goals (first-order consequences). However, this approach frequently fails to anticipate the strategic, long-term responses from adversaries like China (second and third-order consequences), potentially creating larger, unforeseen problems down the road.

Unlike typical consensus-driven politicians, Donald Trump is described as acting with the urgency of a startup founder, making decisions and taking action in real-time to solve problems, which accelerates policy execution.

A former National Security Council staffer observed that President Trump's decisions often seemed counterintuitive in the moment but were later revealed as brilliant strategic "chess moves." This pattern built a high degree of trust among staff, enabling them to execute his vision without always understanding the immediate rationale.

The administration's aggressive, unilateral actions are pushing European nations toward strategic autonomy rather than cooperation. This alienates key partners and fundamentally undermines the 'Allied Scale' strategy of building a collective economic bloc to counter adversaries like China.