If you still see the Americans as the good guys you really haven't been paying attention

But the Israeli I lunched with today and ths Romanian I lunched with on Friday, two of the cleverest men I know, both told me Trump's vulgar discourse, lack of ethics and total lack of respect for international law doesn't matter. He is trying to save American or Western hegemony. They didn't use that word.

He is not being hypocritical, you say, like previous presidents. But hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.

I think America can't behave like Julius Caesar in Gaul though Netanyahu does. American power is not just about money and military equipment. Self-respect, Protestant idealism, moral fervour and soft power matter.

You say better a world ruled by America, which is England's child, rather than China. I am not sure of that. China has almost never attacked  or overthrown the regime of other countries. Nor has Iran. I am  trying to think of any precedents for American aggression. Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin excepted.