Source: Foreign Policy
by Daniel W Drezner
“Trump sounded different from post-Cold War presidents, but his sentiments echoed Richard Nixon, who also liked to get mad in both meanings of the word. Indeed, according to his staffer H.R. Haldeman, Nixon coined the term ‘madman theory,’ explaining that he wanted the North Vietnamese to believe he was capable of doing anything to bring the Vietnam War to an end — up to and including the use of nuclear weapons. The madman theory posits that a leader who behaves as if he could do just about anything has a better chance of persuading other global actors to make concessions they otherwise would not make. … Could Trump’s madman theory be so crazy that it just might work?” (01/07/25)