In Trump’s chaotic theatre of war, there’s only one lead role

March 10, 2026 — 5:00am

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If Donald Trump isn’t thinking about one type of violence, it’s another. In the midst of the war on Iran, Trump told us on the weekend that he’s thinking about his next war. Wars, actually.

Addressing a gathering of the leaders of a dozen nations of South America and Central America and the Caribbean, he started by reassuring them that his attack on Iran, while it’s “been a pretty wild time”, was “going very well”.

Then he nominated his next target: Cuba. We are, he said, “looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba”. It’s “in its last moments of life as it was. It’ll have a great new life”.

And yet another war, and perhaps a whole suite of them. Trump was speaking at the launch of the Shield of the Americas, a multinational anti-narcotics operation. All the countries represented are to be part of it: “The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all. We’ll get rid of them. We need your help,” Trump said.

And the US was keen to get involved in their countries: “If you need help, you’re going to let us,“ Trump told the leaders. Trump’s secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, delivered the ultimatum more directly. The US was “prepared to take on these threats and go on the offence alone, if necessary”.

The “president........

© The Sydney Morning Herald