Though a teetotaller, Donald Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality”, according to Susie Wiles, his chief of staff. Addictive personalities tend to be compulsive risk-takers. Doing what makes you feel good suspends the pain.
In Trump’s case, that pain is increasingly domestic and the cure foreign. The more dire his situation at home — his poll numbers are bad and show no sign of improving — the greater the temptation of getting a fix abroad.
That almost every US president shifts to foreign policy as their time wears on offers little guidance on Trump. He has learned that it is far easier to skirt the polite fiction of international law than US court rulings. In explaining why he ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro last Saturday, Trump cited a US warrant. He sent the sheriff into the jungle to retrieve a fugitive from American justice. It worked like a charm. As long as the target is outgunned, success is assured.