It has been averred that "throughout his military career, Alexander won every battle that he personally commanded."  Donald J. Trump, on the other hand, has made billions; lost and owed billions; made more billions; won the presidency against overwhelming odds; and has battled and is battling Democrats, the Establishment, and foreign powers on multiple fronts, with wins and losses.

A Fox commentator on evaluating Trump's gambit of a possible meeting with Kim at the DMZ said something along the lines of "it is the sign of a great leader that he is willing to risk a great loss in pursuit of a great gain."  Had it not panned out in the actual meeting, it would have been an embarrassing loss for Trump.  Fortunately for all, it did.

I am not an expert on Alexander, but I think it is safe to say Alexander risked defeat in many of his battles en route to his conquest of much of what was then the "known world," but he did win those battles and got far into the Subcontinent.

We'll eventually learn if Trump will cross his Indus, but Lordy, Lordy, the ride/war is great fun to watch as it's passing!

To the point, history might well conclude that the DMZ meeting was Trump's Gordian Knot moment.  As legend holds, Alexander sliced the knot with his sword in order to be the one who would be destined "to become ruler of all of Asia."  In the same way, Trump's stepping into North Korea might portend his solving of the multitude of hitherto intractable foreign and domestic problems with which he is now dealing.

Illustration by H.A. Guerber.

Might!

It was indeed a small step for a man, in Neil Armstrong's words, but we are yet a long way from learning if it was also a giant leap for mankind.

Trump "has done" with process.  He has put process behind him and is confronting the issues in his own way — to hell with process (I'd love to use the expression I would use in Puerto Rico, but this is a family site).

Democrats, their judicial and media allies, entrenched bureaucrats, and NeverTrumps of all stripes will continue to fight him at every step, but he intends to pursue his goals to his last day.

Like Alexander, he will deceive, outmaneuver, and trick his enemies, but he intends to win by any legal means.

Iran is now his greatest challenge, and, unless the mullahs forestall his efforts by taking rash actions, watch for the unexpected there.

H/T to Sundance for the inspiration behind and notions in this post.

The author is retired, his profile may be found on LinkedIn, and he usually responds to emails sent to bilschan@hotmail.com.