"But that manifesto is little more than a word salad of buzzwords and military jargon-evidence that the C students who wrote it did not do the assigned reading. The first page attempts to define the word "strategy" in a way betraying the authors' struggle to understand it; indeed, throughout the document, the authors lean on the half-assed ploy favored among junior-high essay writers who find themselves in over their heads, citing dictionary definitions of a concept or phrase to sound authoritative."
"As a middle-aged adult of sound mind with, incidentally, a degree in public policy studies and political science, I completely understand the impulse to look at what's happening and find some rational explanation for it that does not involve Donald Trump with a colon full of chess pieces. We want some level of certainty, and we want to find patterns so we can predict his behavior and respond to it, because the alternative is far more terrifying."
An aide characterized many Trump decisions as unsophisticated, comparing them to someone 'eating the pieces' rather than playing three-dimensional chess. The kidnapping of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro has been framed by some pundits as strategic or as enforcing a modern Monroe Doctrine, but the National Security Strategy reads as a word salad of buzzwords and military jargon that betrays confusion about 'strategy.' The document relies on dictionary definitions and juvenile ploys to sound authoritative. Observers seek rational patterns to predict and respond to actions; absent a coherent strategy, decisions appear driven by whim, ego, or impulsive influences.
Read at The Nation
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