Foreign Policy

War Hawks' 'Credibility' Obsession Makes America Less Credible

Trump is making the same mistakes Nixon did, doubling down on pointless threats to save face.

Matthew Petti | 4.28.2026 2:25 PM

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Richard Nixon, Donald Trump, and Henry Kissinger. (Illustration: Ollie Atkins//White House/RANDY PENCH/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom/Triple I Ventures Llc/Dreamstime)

War hawks love the idea of "credibility." In his confirmation hearing last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his philosophy "peace through strength by restoring the credibility of American deterrence." When President Donald Trump sent special forces to capture Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro, Vice President J.D. Vance said that "Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says." Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth similarly stated last month that "Iran is learning the hard way that President Trump means what he says."

It's ironic praise for a president who so often doesn't mean what he says. In between his Venezuelan and Iranian interventions, Trump threatened Denmark, stating that he would take over the Danish territory of Greenland "the easy way" or "the hard way." On January 20, in a rant about Greenland, he stated that "there can be no going back." It turns out there was. The next day, Trump agreed to a "framework of a future deal" over expanded U.S. military access to the island. The whole episode was promptly forgotten, just like his repeated threats to tariff the world. And in the current Middle East standoff, he has issued and extended deadlines for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz multiple times.

There is a method to the madness. "Sometimes it pays to be a little wild," Trump wrote in his 1987 book on business, The Art of the Deal, explaining that he creates fear and then lets the counterparty come up with a favorable alternative. That tactic may work sometimes, but it's the........

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