Great Powers Don’t Bluff | Opinion [Video]

Instead of speaking softly and carrying a big stick, as former President Theodore Roosevelt once advocated, President Donald Trump has threatened to turn Canada into the 51st state, to annex Greenland from Denmark, and to forcibly displace 2 million Palestinians to create the Gaza Riviera.

By doing so, Trump is continuously breaking one of the cardinal rules of international relations—great powers don’t bluff. Though bluffing might work in poker or business, it has profound but often unintended consequences in international relations.

Like former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden before him, Trump is attempting to reset America’s relationship with Russia—again. Not only does this take his bluffing to new heights, but he is also sacrificing his political capital, and driving a wedge between Washington and its allies—namely, but not exclusively, under the pretext of pulling Moscow away from Beijing.