Day 2,034: indispensable, benign, ditch, impel

For decades American leaders have argued that their power comes with the responsibility to be the indispensable defender of a world made more stable and benign by democracy, settled borders and universal values. Mr Trump will ditch the values and focus on amassing and exploiting power.

Each shows how Mr Trump is impelled to break with recent decades: in his unorthodox methods, his accumulation and opportunistic use of influence, and his belief that power alone creates peace.

Donald Trump will upend 80 years of American foreign policy

Artwork of the day 
Campanile Della Chiesa Di San Benigno
Giuseppe_Barberis
Date: 1890
Style: Romanticism
Genre: cityscape
Media: woodcut

Word of the day 
indispensable: too important not to have; necessary:
benign: pleasant and kind; not harmful or severe:
ditch: to get rid of or not continue with something or someone that is no longer wanted:
impel: to make someone feel that they must do something:

Quote of the day
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower