Legend has it that when Alexander the Great began his expedition against the Persian Empire, he was confronted with the famous Gordian Knot—an impossibly tangled rope said to grant dominion over Asia to whoever could untie it. Rather than patiently unravel the strands, Alexander drew his sword and cut through the knot. The story has been held up for centuries as a metaphor for bold leadership: when complex problems paralyze virtually the entire world, the great leader slices through them.
Already compared with Constantine the Great by Archbishop Elpidoforos, President Trump seems to aspire instead to surpassing Alexander. Long before Operation Epic Fury, he portrayed the world’s conflicts as Gordian knots created by weak leaders and the timid diplomacy of global elites and bureaucrats. Ukraine, Iran, China, the Middle East—for him each presented problems that simply needed someone willing to cut through the knot that confounded everyone else. Operation Epic Fury was supposed to be that moment for him: decisive, dramatic, and transformative.
Conscience of a Hellene 