Credibility, like trust and a good reputation, is hard to earn, easy to lose. It’s also ruinously expensive once it’s gone, especially in international relations. So it is no small matter that Donald Trump, eight months into his second term as U.S. president, has squandered whatever credibility America had left in foreign and security policy.

The latest embarrassments occurred last week, when Trump fired off several zingers on the same day, causing world leaders to be by turns shocked, puzzled or — most devastatingly — indifferent verging on bemused. In a rambling speech at the United Nations, Trump offended not only that institution, but countries from Brazil to Britain.

Reversals and blame

Later, he ad-libbed his latest reversal on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Kyiv,

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