The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.
So, to succeed in the trough of graft, a politician must have a profusion of scandals, so many of them all at once such that they would eventually overwhelm the system’s capacity to cope.
In the wake of Pompeo’s visit, we need to establish a clear, well-defined foreign policy that focuses a bit less on rhetoric and more on a long-term vision of our place in the world.