This weekend there were a lot of folks claiming that Trump and Vance’s treatment of Zelensky last week was not only justified but a brilliant move. I heard it described as ten moves ahead of everyone else in a game of chess.

No. It. Wasn’t.

First, chess isn’t a game of moves. It’s a game of structures and patterns. It only appears like a chess master is ten moves ahead because the strategy the master is using sets structures on the board that maximize control. They also see patterns evolve based on their opponent’s own structures and responses. Rapid moves in chess often indicate the collapse of strategic structures. Both players are responding to patterns of play. It happens quickly because neither wants to waste time with the patterns anymore. They want to see what’s left after the rapid exchange of pieces. They want to get to the endgame—the result of all the strategizing. The tactical climax.

Trump wasn’t playing chess. He was playing pick-up sticks. Why? Because he has no concept of how the current world order was built, how it was meant to maximize peace and rid the world of empires. It’s a world order the United States built with its allies from the ashes of World War II. We built the United Nations. We developed the international market. We worked to put rules in place so that nations would treat each other like neighbors. That is work the U.S. has built over generations. But Trump has tossed it into the air, scrambling for whatever crumbs he can claim as 'greatness.'

So when someone shows dismay about how Zelensky was treated last week, it isn’t because they’re some liberal softie. It’s because they see the chessboard—the rules-based world order the U.S. worked so hard to create—being tossed into the air. There are no patterns in that toss. Just chaos.

A grandmaster doesn’t win by scattering pieces across the board. He wins by understanding the game. Trump, however, has flipped the board over and called it victory.

Welcome to the circus.