For a man who is said to have his eye on the Nobel Peace Prize, President Donald J. Trump sure is spoiling for a fight.
His administration increasingly reminds me of the character in Stephen Crane’s Wild West short story, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.” Scratchy Wilson prowls the dusty streets of the one-horse town in search of a fight—any fight. The locals take cover, barricading themselves into the Weary Gentleman saloon. Scratchy is reduced to taking pot shots at the barman’s dog and the saloon door. “The man called to the sky. . . . He bellowed and fumed and swayed his revolvers here and everywhere. But “there was no offer of fight—no offer of fight.”
Even before he was sworn in, President Trump was picking fights. Like Scratchy, he started with his neighbors. He threatened 25 percent tariffs on Canada and on Mexico and spoke of annexing the former. Neither counterpunched. Indeed, both caved within days—Mexico by sending 10,000 troops to the border; Canada by appointing a “fentanyl czar” and further expanding its $1.3 billion border security plan.
Then Trump looked further afield. He demanded the return of the Panama Canal. He asked Denmark to hand over Greenland. He slapped a 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Still, no fight—just a few, limited, tit-for-tat tariffs.
The latest attempt to start a fight—and by the looks of it, the most successful so far— took place at the usually dull Munich Security Conference on Valentine’s Day, when Vice President J. D. Vance challenged not only the European Union but also Britain.