Trump 2.0 borrows a ton from Richard Nixon but 37th presidents playbook also has big risks

You’ve made a huge political comeback.You’re deeply suspicious of the Washington bureaucracy.

You’re contemptuous of liberal elites and the media they control, especially TV networks and The New York Times.You’re trying to get America out of a war you didn’t start and which you regard as a drain on US resources.You’ve just delivered a massive shock to your allies.

You really want them to rely less on the US for their security.You also want to counter their competition with US manufacturing.

You’re aiming to achieve piece in the Middle East between Israel and everyone else.And you’re seeking to drive a wedge between Russia and China and exploit it to your advantage.Congratulations, Donald Trump: You are officially Richard Nixon’s revenge.

Not many presidents have sought to emulate Nixon since he was forced to resign in disgrace in August 1974.But you are going there.

And in many ways you are right to do so.You just need to tread warily.

There is a reason Richard is not fondly remembered today — except by you.Many of my European friends are reeling from the events of the past two weeks.They feel the way many US allies felt on the night of Sunday, Aug.

15, 1971, after President Nixon had gone on TV to announce a 10% surcharge on all imports, a supposedly temporary suspension of the convertibility of the dollar into gold, and a 90-day wage and price freeze.The “Nixon Shock” was in response to a run on gold by European holders of dollars, as well as a rise in US inflation.But it had a geopolitical counterpart.

Nixon’s announcement a month earlier, on July 15, that he would be visiting Communist China the following year was as big a shock in Japan and Taiwan as the dollar devaluation a month later.What we have seen since Feb. 18 has been the Trump Shock.It began with Trump blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war in Ukraine and being a dictator.

Ten days later, in the Oval Office, Trump and Vice President J.D...