Donald Trump likes to use the phrase ‘go big or go home’ to describe his political strategy. It looks as though the US President is about to stress test its efficacy as he weighs dispatching another 10,000 troops to the Middle East, a move that would further embroil him in the widely unpopular war in Iran. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 74 per cent of Americans are opposed to a ground war against Iran.

Small wonder. The prospect of an American Gallipoli is hardly calculated to inspire support for the fresh war of choice in the Middle East, one that Trump embarked upon without inspiring any backing in the first place. Instead, he sailed into it without congressional approval. Now he’s running aground. As Curt Mills, the executive director of the American Conservative, a citadel of Maga followers, told me: ‘If James Mattis, Stanley McCrystal and David Petraeus are leery of this war, then I think you should be too.’

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is talking about forcing a vote in Congress on formal authorisation for the war, which is the last thing many of her Republican colleagues want to take an official stand on. But as Trump toggles back and forth between........

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