Trump's mind-bending foreign policy

Washington

LET'S imagine that it's the first year of the administration of President Donald Trump and America is facing a major national security threat: The Russians invade Estonia; or the Chinese attack Taiwan; or Saudi Arabia declares war on Iran; or Lebanon's Hezbollah groups launch a series of missiles targeting Israeli civilian population areas.

In response, President Trump orders his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to convene an emergency meeting of the so-called Principals Committee (PC) of the National Security Council (NSC), which includes Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Chiefs of Staff of the US armed forces.