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American presidents have long been afflicted by the itch to "push a button, solve someone else's problem and be their hero." Actually, we've been afflicted by it.

I don't know when this problem started. Certainly before WWII, possibly before WWI.

It's kind of like what's portrayed in many of the Bond movies. The President want to test his/her powers. Some foreign leader calls him up on the phone. Maybe they've met before when they were younger, maybe not. This foreign leader is — among his other talents — one hell of a good salesman, and determined to solve whatever his problem is by any means necessary.

So the President says "sure Alexi, I can put my people on that, if you do X for me." That's how things are done in this world, the President has learned. He figures "hey, I'm the President of the United States, I can handle that problem for old Alexi." Kind of like one of the Bond villains, in the huge office with the huge button-covered desk and the gigantic shark tank behind him.

Only problem is, American kids have to go die in order for the President to be such a hero to one of his fellow President club big-shots.

The only guy in recent years who said "no" to this dynamic was Donald Trump, and he was kicked out before you could say Jiminy Cricket.