Speak loudly and carry a small schtick

YOU can always count on him and his chaotic decision-making to get everyone in Washington, supporters and rivals alike, perplexed if not unhinged, making it difficult to figure out what the man is doing. With The Disrupter at the helm, it becomes close to impossible to deconstruct the way the balance of power is evolving in the White House and on Capitol Hill - and on whose side exactly you are on.

Hence the bewildered response in Washington and around the country and around the world to US President Donald Trump's incomprehensible last-minute decision to pull back from a retaliatory strike on Iran.

For days, against the backdrop of growing tensions between Teheran and Washington and after an Iranian missile shot down a US drone, military hawks on the political right were applauding the tough stand by Mr Trump who tweeted that "Iran made a very big m…