Donald Trump's national security strategy, which was given the moniker the "Donroe Doctrine," was supposed to be the new blueprint for America's role in the world. Actions such as Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico, trying to take over or buy Greenland, threatening Canada and Panama, as well as his military incursion into Venezuela all fall into his updated version of the Monroe Doctrine, which his administration views as stating America's divine right to rule the Western hemisphere. When considering his outright hostility toward our traditional allies in Europe and Asia, which he is apparently happy to leave to Russia and China, Trump's vaunted America First movement becomes more sharply defined as a focus on the United States' own neighborhood and a retreat from larger global concerns.

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What is happening is basically a gang war. Trump is taking over other gangsters' turf and taking out their leaders. There's no need to completely change their crews. After all, they're in the same business. It just means that they now need to report to him -- while showing loyalty and ensuring protection.

If you think that's far-fetched, consider what Trump told ABC News' Jonathan Karl when the reporter asked him about Khamenei's death. "I got him before he got me," he said. "They tried twice. Well I got him first."

There's no "Donroe Doctrine" or some great global imperial strategy. Donald Trump is simply a mob boss who thinks he's settling all the family business.

Salon