That’s the central weakness of the “To Hell with Them” Hawks. Their approach is mostly focused on the appearance of strength and toughness. It manifests itself in sporadic and somewhat capricious exercises of American power, but with no consistency or broader strategy. Is there any reason, for example, why we are blowing up an Iranian general one moment—while at another moment, Trump ignores North Korean threats and gushes about his relationship with Kim Jong-un? This is an approach designed to make us feel tough without actually accomplishing any strategic advances over the long term for our national interests.

The “To Hell with Them” Hawks don’t have a foreign policy so much as an evasion of foreign policy. Instead of seeking to channel the voters’ sporadic interest in foreign events into some coherent long-term strategy, they pander to the public’s shallowness and impatience, telling them that America is so great (again) that we don’t need any policy in between the air strikes.