The Republican president, running for re-election, orders airstrikes against a foreign foe. Back home, street protests erupt, and TV pundits and newspaper editorialists rage; there are even new calls for impeachment. And it’s later learned that the president told his top diplomat, in regard to the aerial bombardment, “The bastards have never been bombed like they’re going to be bombed this time.” These words then provoke critics to call the president, among other epithets, crazy.