Surrounded by enemies it created

American flags on the stage before Trump speaks at the Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia in this file photo from June 30, 2023. — Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

MANY years ago, I asked a friend who had been hired as a senior foreign policy official what he’d learnt in government that he didn’t know beforehand.

He replied: “I used to think policy-making was 75% about relationships. Now I realise it’s 95% about relationships.”