Watching Secretary of War, or is it defense, Pete Hegseth, trying to transmit the latest from the front is a fairly queasy exercise. He tries to be definitive but casually dismisses every concern by stressing that you “Don’t need to worry about it”. Compare his facile analysis with Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine’s sharp and incisive reports. Caine sees War as serious, not a game to play on a phone. He is not optimistic nor pessimistic; he is just the facts, and nothing but the facts.

Hegseth blends many of the worst traits of the Viet Nam style of optimism without caution. Unlike a Robert McNamara or Melvin Laird, he grossly exaggerates. Certainly, he is no Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the force that crushed Saddam Hussein, but he did not understate the few setbacks he suffered. When he proclaimed victory, people were prone to believe him, but they do not particularly trust Hegseth.

For openers, he is hard to take seriously. Hegseth comes across more like an overeager adolescent trying to convince his audience that he is competent. When he expresses his triumphalism, he resembles MacDermott’s 1877 War song in the middle of the Russo-Turkish War. The chorus went like this: “We don’t want to fight by jingo, if we do, we’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, and we’ve got the money too.” Other times, Hegseth seems to adopt Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame’s famous slogan, “What me worry?”

Hegseth brings to the party the same defects as Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel, of party till you drop, with the US Hockey team notoriety. Hegseth does not serve President Donald Trump well. Unlike Caine, who is coherent and measured, he is defensive and often childish in his remarks. Moreover, he lacks credibility, whereas Caine is widely respected.

With gas prices increasing and world markets shaky, Hegseth should be careful. The United States has a superior military, and no one doubts it will win. But is it a tactical success only without strategic benefits? Certainly, Trump’s decision to lift oil sanctions on Russia may indicate a shrewder foreign policy than is currently advertised. Give Marco Rubio credit; he avoids the media while conducting diplomacy. China’s conspicuous silence also may indicate that something other than dropping bombs is taking place.

Trump’s tactics are geared toward a larger goal. Russia says little about Cuba, with which they have engaged in a long relationship. Trump stayed relatively mute over Azerbaijan when Russia seemed to threaten its security. Taiwan has not been particularly aided by the United States either.

The new rules of diplomacy are the old rules come to life. During this crisis, the United Nations is playing no role at all. Invasions, assassinations, indiscriminate bombing, these are the new ethics and rules of diplomacy and war.

No doubt it is a dangerous game, particularly if the nuclear powers turn on one another. Trump, who has a “concept” of everything and an endgame for none, may be over his head.

Trump, whose credibility is in tatters, needs to up his negotiating game and tread carefully.