GUNBOAT IMPERIALISM so thrills President Donald Trump, he ought to start wearing mutton-chop whiskers, a frock-coat and a sword. Especially in his second term, Mr Trump has repeatedly startled the world by applying 19th-century methods to modern security problems, like a latter-day William McKinley. Sadly for Mr Trump, the world keeps startling him in return. Time and again threats and shows of force fail to work quite as expected, leaving his officials unable to hide their puzzlement.

On February 19th, days before America and Israel pounded Iran, Fox News interviewed Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s all-purpose diplomatic fixer.

Mr Witkoff, a garrulous sort, described his boss as “curious” that Iran’s leaders had not “capitulated”. Why, he mused aloud, had Iran not negotiated an end to its nuclear ambitions, given the American firepower amassed off its coasts?

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