Military power alone cannot sustain global dominance, and attempts to assert it in the face of structural decline may hasten the very outcome they seek to prevent.
But with a maniacal president who cannot tolerate even a simple difference of opinion, a country that dares not to comply with his demands turns into an enemy that must be eliminated.
Trump and his advisers have repeatedly insisted that the U.S. president can pretty much do whatever he wants and that the pesky Congress need only be consulted rarely.