The plain fact of the matter, however, is that if you can’t dominate or destroy your opponent, you have to accommodate him, and that means compromise. When you choose to destroy your opponent, you will almost always have to deploy an immense amount of force and endure a considerable amount of loss.

Coercing Germany and Japan into unconditional surrender took millions of soldiers, untold devastation, and two nuclear strikes against Japan. Even the much simpler act of deposing Saddam Hussein and bringing Iraq under a modicum of control during the “surge” took hundreds of thousands of American and allied troops and years of constant combat.

The two presidents before Trump entered the White House in 2017 — George W. Bush and Barack Obama — took contrasting approaches. Bush chose to dominate through his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama’s Iran deal was a compromise, an accommodation.

But the worst possible outcome is the Trump approach — to try to dominate and fail. Because then you’ll be forced to compromise far more than you’d like.