"From praising dictators to alienating allies, Trump has made chaos his calling card. Has his strategy caused more problems than it solved?"-- Provided by publisher.

Nixon tried it first. Hoping to make communist bloc countries uneasy and thus unstable, Nixon let them think he was just crazy enough to nuke them. He called this "the madman theory." Trump has employed his own "madman theory," sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. He praises Kim Jong-un, admires and flatters Vladimir Putin, but attacks US institutions and officials, ignores his own advisors, and turns his back on US allies. Trump's supporters assume he has a strategy for long-term success. Sciutto shows that Trump's foreign policy has undermined American values and national security interests, while leaving allies isolated and vulnerable without American support. The result is a world which is more unstable, violent, and impoverished than it was before. -- adapted from jacket