MADMAN ON THE LOOSE: "Pres. Donald Trump's often incomprehensible foreign policy... has changed the country and the world.".

• Author: Fischer, Carolyn
• Position: WORLDVIEW

CNN'S CHIEF national security correspondent and anchor of "CNN Newsroom," Jim Sciutto brings to his coverage of the Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence agencies more than two decades of experience as a foreign correspondent in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. A Yale University graduate and Fulbright Fellow, Sciutto has earned numerous accolades, including the Edward R. Murrow and Merriman Smith Memorial awards for excellence in presidential coverage. In The Madman Theory: Trump Takes On the World, Sciutto combines fine reporting and perceptive analysis to explore Pres. Donald Trump's often incomprehensible foreign policy and how it has changed the country and the world.

Pres. Richard Nixon first coined and "claimed ownership" of the term "Madman Theory" to describe a strategy he used during the Vietnam War: he gave his adversary reason to consider him "just mad enough to launch nuclear weapons." H.R. Halderman, Nixon's chief of staff, explains the strategy as "a threat of egregious military action by an unpredictable U.S. president." Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor, informed the Vietnamese that Nixon would "stop at nothing, might use nuclear weapons, and would not cave" when Hanoi refused to make the troop withdrawals Nixon sought. Nixon, however, backed off and the threat of nuclear conflict ended.

Almost five decades later, Pres. Trump creatively has expanded on the "Madman Theory." In his notorious "fire and fury" speech against North Korea, Trump hinted he might "wittingly or unwittingly" launch a nuclear attack. Trump even argued with Kim Jong-un over who possessed the larger nuclear button. Although senior advisors believe Trump has "no real appetite for war," they often fear he might "unleash his 'madman' not only on our adversaries but also on our allies." Trump's actions, the product of his "uniquely capricious and unpredictable decisionmaking process," influence U.S. diplomacy throughout the world. The problem is "neither adversaries nor allies want to deal with the 'madman.'"

Sciutto posits Trump's madman theory is part of a "broader Trump revolution in U.S. foreign policy." The President deliberately has "dismantled the existing policymaking and decisionmaking process" and replaced it with erratic, unstable, "on-the-fly" decisions without consulting his advisors. For example, in tweets, he announced two U.S. troop withdrawals from Syria--both totally surprising his staff and commanders.

Joseph Yun, former special representative for North Korean policy, considered Trump's approach to North Korea "transactional": neither North Korea's gruesome human rights record nor an American student's torture and death jeopardized Trump's personal relationship with Kim Jong-un; neither did Trump consider that his allied relationship with South Korea potentially could influence negotiation with North Korea.

Peter Navarro, who directs Trump's trade and manufacturing policies, believes the need for economic power drives Trump's thinking: "Economic security is national security." Trump feels allies and adversaries have taken advantage of the U.S. in the past. Indeed, America has been an exceptional provider for the world--especially for bankrupt welfare states that have no money for guns or troops.

Trump has disrupted U.S. exceptionalism: NATO members are "paying up" and trade deals with China have improved. However, critics feel Trump's...