Speak hysterically and carry a big stick: Trump’s foreign policy threats

In his second term, Trump's bluster has been accompanied by an emotional and aggressive approach to foreign policy

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Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, characterized his approach to international relations as speak softly and carry a big stick". It was an approach that won him a Nobel peace prize in 1906, for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war.

In recent days, Donald Trump's own take on diplomacy has come into focus, one that might be characterized thusly: speak hysterically and threaten to use (and sometimes actually use) a big stick. This idiosyncratic approach to statecraft has yet to win Trump a Nobel peace prize, although that is something that the president has said - many, many times - does not bother him at all.