Wake up & smell the Covfefe
Trump takes charge at the Oval Office, a fair bit of din, thunder and dramatic prognosis is being heard and read. Some of it may well turn out to be true. Even so, to what degree this will be a presidency like no other and an absolute break from much of 20th century-or, at least, post-war-US foreign policy is, quite honestly, debatable.
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A country's engagement with the world is a response to emergent times. It is not unchanging and has never been unchanging. There is an understandable temptation to ascribe permanence to an immediate past, and therefore to see any evolution as an unprecedented rupture.
Some of this hot-weather analysis is accompanying Trump's inauguration. The president-elect himself is happy to indulge and encourage it with appropriate rhetoric. This suits his politics and keeps him on television and social media feeds.
Take an example. Much has been made about the threat to the 'liberal international order', the 'rules-based system', and 'multilateralism'. There is substance to each of these concepts and phrases. They represent enormous effort-particularly in a Europe and Euro-Atlantic region wracked by two debilitating wars in the early 20th century-to render the conduct of international relations more predictable and constructive.
Yet, it is equally
