President Donald Trump has previously blamed U.S. weakness on the international stage on his two predecessors as having emboldened bad actors, and rightly so. Former President Barack Obama’s milquetoast walk back from his Syrian “red line” (and acceding to the Russian-brokered sham agreement on former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons) and former President Joe Biden’s hasty withdrawal and handwashing from Afghanistan sent a signal that America was uninterested in doing the hard and messy things required for international security.

This sense that America lacked the resolve to oppose aggression and malign influence invited and incentivized more crises, such as the annexation of Crimea, increased Iranian proxy attacks, and a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now, however, Trump faces two decisions that will test his resolve and demonstrate whether America has the will to stand up to adversaries and rivals in dealing with Russian recalcitrance on a Ukrainian ceasefire and with the Iranian nuclear program.

To take the lead on these negotiations, Trump has turned to his confidant and special envoy for the Middle East —but de facto lead American........

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