Trump rides the vibes, for better or worse

After a flurry of activity — the president’s tariff threats and showdowns with Mexico and Canada, his expressions of interest in Greenland, the policy changes obtained by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trips to Panama and El Salvador, the release of arrested Americans in Venezuela — it seemed clear that the focus of Donald Trump’s foreign policy would be the Western Hemisphere.

And then, just a few days later, as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the first head of government to visit the White House, Trump announced that “the United States will take over the Gaza Strip.”