Quote Originally Posted by Greyblades View Post
He knows when to use force and when to hold off to get what he wants and he is willing to defer to his advisors, that physical restraint I would say is suprisingly rare in the history of rulers with the level of autonomy of the president.

That would be enough for at least dip and mil 3 if not 4, though I would conceed a +10% mil tech cost trait, as his ability is in terms of capability not theory; he isnt exactly writing doctrine.

In addition he has been exceedingly effective at walking the line between mere outrage and actually insighting action, he has exhausted his opponents chasing red herrings, blown the credibility of formerly respected outlets on increasingly desperate attacks and frankly has defined teflon coated presidency with how few of the scandals have actually changed anything.
We haven't actually seen him use force though. He's made statements about additional bombings in Syria or moving more combat power around but the level or intensity of bombings have NOT changed and the boost to military power in Korea have been scheduled years in advance and had nothing to do with his directing a buildup.
A restraint in using force is actually the norm for the US minus very minor conflicts in our periphery (Grenada, Panama, Haiti). Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are far from the norm for the US but the longlasting cultural, political, and military impacts make them seem as we're a nation at constant war when we aren't (up to the Global War on Terror at least).

I'm certainly no fan of too much restraint which is why I still think Obama was a foreign policy wimp, especially in regard to the Ukraine which merited a strong reversal of our policies in Europe in addition to sanctions.
As for his deferring to advisors, on the face of his administration it seems that he doesn't defer to them. He seems to just have zero interest in the day to day operations in any of the departments and only weighs in on the big issues which would normally be fine but when he weighs in it seems to be in contrast and in ignorance of those day to day policies. A good boss doesn't need to do the small stuff but should at least be aware of what the small stuff is.

As for his walking the line between outrage and action, I think that's primarily because his got the protection of the other two branches of government at the moment. If the Republicans lose the Senate (or the House if things go terrible for them somehow) he will see a lot more action against him for sure just as Hillary and Obama had (bengazi, emails, endless executive orders).

He has maintained such chaos yet suffered little from it and still maintaining the image of an absolute idiot to the point even many of his supporters including myself dont know if it is intentional or some sort of automatic behavior, hence the 4 adm, it'd be a 5 if it was intentional or were doing it without pulling the rug out from under his own staff on occasion.
I'd say he's suffered a lot from it. He's lost a lot of support from on the fence folks. People like myself that were forced to accept that one of two horrible candidates would win are now in the opposition to him.
Maintaining the image of an absolute idiot isn't a win for anyone. If it's intentional, well then perhaps those conspiracy theories about him being a Democratic Trojan horse to discredit and splinter the Republican party are true. The constant crazy and chaotic news cycle that is largely fed by his tweets are draining a lot of support for him. Even people like my brother who voted for him, doesn't read any news but what's shared on facebook are wondering what the heck the POTUS is doing.

If I ever seem hostile, I sincerely apologize. This President exasperates me a lot. The most difficult thing for me to understand with his ardent supporters is how they could also support George W. Bush, or John McCain, or even Bob Dole for those that remember. Trump is the farthest from any of those politicians, he's not a traditional republican in the slightest but my card carrying republican friends are more loyal to the party brand than any of the previous principles (such as free trade, NATO, and fiscal conservatism).