Item One: President Donald Trump threatens to "blow up" Oman if it "gets in the way" of a peace agreement with Iran.

Item Two: Trump punishes South Korea for failing to help on Iran by abruptly scaling back military exercises, claiming they "send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to his friend, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Item Three: Trump slaps a 50 percent tariff on Canadian goods for alleged trade offenses. When Canada predictably retaliates, he threatens to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America."

Each of these fits into a pattern in which Trump enthusiastically attacks allies and curries favor with adversaries (the latter, usually to little effect — North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan the day after Trump ordered the exercises with South Korea cut back).

There are four possible explanations for why Trump bludgeons friends while bowing before foes.

First is that he genuinely believes our alliances and trade relationships are more liabilities than assets. In his transactional "America First" mentality, our allies and trading partners have been taking advantage of us for decades and our alleged enemies, such as Russia, China and North Korea, are such only because we have been too mean to them.

In a worldview which rejects any global responsibilities or moral principles or affinity for the........

© Arkansas Online