July the 3rd 2017 was the day President Trump began to learn the limits of his power.

Back in April 2017 Trump sent the aircraft carrier the Carl Vinson to North Korea to show he would not be messed around like his weak predecessor Barrack Obama. Trump’s action was designed to show the world a new boss man was in town and demonstrate how other world leaders would jump into line once the USA flexed its military might. The world would respect America once again after years of mocking the pathetically combat adverse and morally acquiescent Obama.  

With his very expensive aircraft carrier on the way to North Korean waters Donald Trump said during an recent interview: “We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That, I can tell you.”

July 3rd (on the eve of the 4th of July)  Kim Jong-Un gave Donald Trump the finger. Jong-Un's very public “fuck you” digit took the form of a long-range missile that was fired into Japanese waters.

Donald Trump didn’t respond with new threats of military action or heavy sanctions but with mockery by asking of Kim: “Has this guy nothing better to do with his time?” Can anyone recall candidate Trump promising to tweet-insult Jong-Un to the negotiating table?

We’ve already seen with the attempted repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act that Trump is not prepared to be perceived as a loser under any circumstances. Dozens of Republican senators are being asked to sacrifice their careers and millions of Americans risk losing their health insurance purely because Trump wishes to please his base and claim a win. Trump’s assault on the Affordable Health Care Act has proven that if you’re not in the Trump camp, you’re expedient, and if you can’t help reelect him you’re expendable.

Right now, a lot of very intelligent, experienced military analysts are trying to calculate how many citizens of South Korea and China President Trump is willing to put at risk to assert his authority and continue to appear to the American public as a winner.   

Trump has natural charisma to spare and is clearly exceptionally street smart. Important questions remain: Is Trump a genuinely brilliant big thinker or a risk-taking con man who got lucky? Can Trump negotiate difficult deals or is he a paper tiger? Does his heart truly rule his head or is he, underneath all the orange make up and perma-TV tan, a measured thoughtful person?

Jong-Un has emerged as Trump’s first genuine international challenge. Jong-Un can’t be handled by a cheap insult or bullied into submission by breaking Washington cultural norms or politeness and deference. Like Trump he possesses a big ego, an in your face brashness that he doesn’t appear capable of reigning in, and a genuine sense of destiny.

It’s a “Mirror, mirror on the wall who will turn out to be the bull-shitter of them all?” time. Finally, after three years of frenzied speculation on the campaign trail and now in the White House, we’re about to find out what the President is truly made of.