RELY ON ECONOMIC SANCTIONS TO IMPOSE YOUR WILL, NOT WAR: Trump has the facially odd idea–probably because he was a businessman, not a soldier–that the true test of manhood comes through negotiations, not war. To him, every interaction has a clear winner and loser, and he always wins. His weapon of choice in this approach is economic sanctions.
But sanctions didn’t prevent Iran from moving closer to a bomb. Sanctions against Russia didn’t force Putin to abandon the war. Sanctions against Venezuela have done nothing to prevent Maduro from consolidating his power. Over sixty years of sanctions against Cuba have not resulted in a revolution against the regime. The bottom line is, they rarely succeed; more often, they make the helpless population miserable without creating the desired political outcome.