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In that case don’t go to war, don’t comfort the 9/11 victim... your formula looks ridiculous very fast!

Reading comprehension fail alert. My "formula" is akin to the broken window theory. If you allow your opponent to attack without repercussion, then a) you encourage more attacks; b) you encourage attacks that push the envelope; and c) you make it very difficult to effectively push back when the attacks get out of hand. The Democrats excel at this, while the Republicans' approach of ignoring/laughing is an abject failure.

But what I cannot understand is what any of this has to do with "comforting a 9/11 victim" or "going to war". I can only hope you were responding to a different post. Bush was a failure, politically, not because he went to war, or because he comforted victims. He was a failure because he didn't confront unfair political attacks while he still had a chance to (early on in his presidency, when he still had political capital). This ignoring/laughing approach meant that by the time public opinion had been shaped, he had lost all capacity to fight back.

Trump, for all his warts, bouts of insanity, and flirtations with the enemy, is doing the right thing here. He is making people know that if you come after him politically, especially with weak stuff, you are in for a battle.