I have always thought the Kaiser is a good comparison for Trump. Wilhelm knew Germany was the most powerful, he was raised to believe power was everything. So he exuded it. 

Meanwhile France and Britain had first fought each other in 1109, and did so often after that. These were two countries that hated each other. But the Kaiser scared both into aligning. Had he not done so, France would have been afraid to oppose Germany. They may have sought ways around WW1, and if not, the French would have fallen quickly resulting in Russia falling, quickly.

But instead, 4 years of horrible war happened and Germany fell (along with Russia).

Germany would have been far better off to seriously negotiate.

Plus I am a huge fan of Ike, Ike understood the value of building a team through diplomacy. 

Posted by: @shooter

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"The hardest part of this argument is separating Trump’s possible correctness about the world from his obvious unfitness to navigate it."

Posted by: @npt

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Posted by: @shooter

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"The hardest part of this argument is separating Trump’s possible correctness about the world from his obvious unfitness to navigate it."

We haven't had a president for some time that was fit to navigate what needed to be done.

 

Agreed.  It's been 9 long years.