Where Trump succeeds

Among the many new political maladies of our age, one has been left largely undiagnosed. This is Trump Derangement Syndrome, a condition whereby intense dislike of the 45th president renders sufferers unable to understand what he is trying to do or allow that he is capable of success. Trump is hard to admire, it’s true, and seems to revel in his ability to appal. But therein lies the secret of his power: with a few tweets, he can set the world’s news agenda and drive his critics to distraction.

Take this week, when he tweeted that his nuclear arsenal is larger than that of Kim Jong-un. His comments were seized upon as yet another example of his idiocy and his playground logic. But the point he was making has been the motivating principle behind American strategy for decades: to have more military muscle than any adversaries.

Trump is more explicit about this strategy, to the point of being childishly antagonistic. But his crazier-than-thou approach — aimed not just at Pyongyang but at Beijing, too — is bearing fruit. On Twitter and during his Asian tour last year, Trump has pressed the Chinese to take the North Korean threat more seriously. They already are. Sanctions have been made harsher, with Chinese support, and Kim Jong-un has now given word that he wants to open talks with South Korea. Beijing appears to be coming round to Trump’s analysis, having lost patience with North Korea, its only treaty ally. China has restricted its banks from offering services to North Korean clients. Trump is changing the game in this area, something his predecessors utterly failed to do.