What’s true of presidents is also true of superpowers. When they abandon the skill of persuasion and strip power down to pure force - legal, economic, or violent - they weaken themselves irreparably. Because establishing a domain of pure force is usually beyond their power, not to mention their will to suffer. Donald Trump’s domestic overreach-failure cycle is being projected at the global level. We can only pray that it fails fast enough for us to redeem the national honor and bring Havel’s greengrocers back.