If I had a nickel

Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019

for every time Trump rattled his imaginary saber this way (how many months did it take Bush to just get troops to the Middle East to drive Saddam back into Iraq?  How many months did it take W. to get troops in place to "shock and awe" Iraq the second time?  "Locked and loaded"?  Who is he kidding?) and then backed down (anyone old enough to remember his brave stand on vaping?  Or how he said, multiple times, he could wipe out all life in Afghanistan in a matter of weeks, without nukes, but then all but gave Afghanistan away to the Taliban?  Is he still threatening to increase our military efforts there?  Or is he still desperate to end them?), I'd be a rich man today.

And probably spending all my time on the internet, which would be a pity.

Besides:

announcing that we’re standing by to send the US military to war if the Saudi royal family wants, with whomever they want ... seems unlikely to have durable political appeal.

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 15, 2019