Who is the anti-Trump? The human opposite of him? Robert Mueller, who once investigated the US president, had a strong claim. He spent the great bulk of his career in unremunerative public life. He joined the Marines because a friend died in the corps, not despite that fact. In obituaries since his own death last month, the word “integrity” recurs. Donald Trump instead went with: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Perhaps this wasn’t just personal animus talking but also total mystification at the values of someone like Mueller.
Trump does not understand people who believe in things. Recognise this blind spot, and his current struggles abroad become easier to explain.
If Iran has put up more of a fight than he had expected, that is because it really is devoted to certain causes. The survival of the Islamic revolution is one. National amour propre is another, for the less theologically minded in the regime. Then there is plain hatred of America and Israel. You need not admire these beliefs to recognise their motivating power in Tehran.