We had hints of what I call the "Trump Doctrine" in his first term as he annihilated ISIS in Syria, but the two-decade war in Afghanistan that he had inherited initially obscured what has now become a coherent doctrine. In his second term, the freedom of navigation attacks against Yemen's Houthis were once again a hint of Trump's way of war, but Saturday's attack on Iran—and the events leading up to it—tell us much about the deliberate and precise manner in which Trump seeks to conduct American wars. Similar to (but different from) the famous "Powell Doctrine" promulgated by former Secretary of State Colin Powell (more on that later), the Trump Doctrine is the doctrine of a businessman serving his stockholders. Explained another way, the Trump Doctrine is the "Businessman's Way of War."

To preview succinctly, the Trump Doctrine consists of a series of business-like, iterative steps for all uses of American military force, and it performs as follows:

Identify America's national interest.

Bargain with the prospective enemy.

If/when negotiations fail, conceal & misdirect.

Strike with precision and overwhelming force.

Achieve submission.

Bargain again (from a position of complete strength) with the defeated enemy.

I'll now examine each of these escalating steps in detail.

"IDENTIFY AMERICA'S NATIONAL INTEREST."

This first point is key in understanding the Trump Doctrine and how it differs from the Powell Doctrine. Both the Trump Doctrine and the Powell Doctrine focus on war as only being necessary when a vital American national interest is at stake, but the definition of that "interest" differs rather dramatically between the two doctrines. Whereas the Powell Doctrine allows for amorphous goals such as exporting democracy, the Trump Doctrine takes a fundamentally different approach—a businessman's approach.