Iranians can thank Donald Trump for pressuring their government to stop slaughtering protesters. At least that’s what Donald Trump says.

Now maybe he can get federal law enforcement to stop killing American protesters.

A cynical version of what’s going on in Minneapolis is that ICE agents were sent there to provoke protests so that more agents could be sent, leading to more protests, ultimately justifying Trump’s invoking the insurrection act—something he’s wanted to do for years.

Internationally, Trump is clearly feeling his oats. Following his actions in Venezuela, starting with blowing boats out the water and culminating in the abduction of Nicolas Maduro, Trump has moved on to Greenland. And that won’t be the end of it. As Trump flexes his muscles, taking what he likes to call “strong “ or “very strong “ action, his appetite seems to grow to do even more.

If the question is why is he doing all of this? The answer is quite simple: Because he can.

We are witnessing—experiencing would be a better word—the realization of one man’s fantasies. He is a man child playing with his latest acquisition: the United States government, featuring the world’s most powerful military, a Justice Department that can and will investigate and prosecute anyone he wants, departments that can enrich his family and himself with the scratch of a Sharpie. He can order parades on his birthday, stage brutal fights on the White House lawn, free criminals (“patriots”) from federal prisons, and, apparently, order the murder of people by asserting, without proof, that they are narco terrorists bringing deadly drugs to our shores.

It’s not all life and death, though. Trump has a wide range of interests and concerns, from what shows play at the renamed (Trump) Kennedy Center to how much water can come out of a shower head. Here’s an excerpt from a recent news report about a delay in passing legislation that Trump wants:

“The absence of [a Republican congressman] and four other GOP members last week prompted House leadership to postpone a bill that would write into law one of Trump’s executive orders. The legislation aims to increase how much water can be used in a shower by redefining federal standards around shower heads and allowing multiple nozzles. It’s been a pet cause for Trump for some time.”

In practice, we hesitate to make frank and blunt characterizations of his statements and actions because he is the President of the United States. So the media try to take him and describe him seriously—he can after all do serious damage—but it’s a difficult exercise because many of his actions are so bizarre.

It’s a mistake for commentators and the rest of the media to try to treat Trump as a conventional, normal President, though, because he is not. He himself says that he isn’t interested in what other people think. If he listens to advisers, if he has any that he does listen to, he chooses for the most part men and women who agree with him, Stephen Miller being a case in point. (we’ll return to him). Trump isn’t really even a politician. He plays one for the public, but in his heart of hearts he is a showman yearning for the role of Great Man.

By his own admission he feels no restraints on what he may do. Is he restrained by international law? Is there any limit to his power? His answer? Not really .

Here he is, in an interview with The New York Times:  Asked if anything “can restrain you on the world stage.” Trump replied, “My own morality, my own mind is the only thing that can stop [me]…I don’t need international law. I’m not looking to hurt people. I’m not looking to kill people.” No mention of federal law or the Constitution. He is a law unto himself.

By treaty, the United States can do virtually anything it wants to do in Greenland, without seeking Danish or Greenland’s approval. Why, then, Trump was asked, is he insisting that the United States must own Greenland? “Because,” Trump explained,  “that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base.”

 “Psychologically important to you or to the United States?” he was asked.

“Psychologically important for me.,” he responded. “Now, maybe another president would feel differently, but so far I’ve been right about everything.”

As for advisers, one of his closest is his 40-year-old deputy chief of staff and Gauleiter Stephen Miller. Miller had much the same thing to say, only more so:

“…we live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time…We’re a superpower. And under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.”

Superpowers can act internationally. They can also act locally. Federal troops—that’s what the ICE forces really are—may legally show up anywhere, and they are. If you’re in a state that didn’t vote for Trump, expect a visit.

So there you have it. If we want something, we take it. If someone gets in the way, we push him aside. Protest at your peril. Undocumented immigrants, documented immigrants, citizens with dark skin, women driving cars, women in cars, children in cars, governors of Blue states, mayors of northern cities: Beware.

One last thought. Every decision involves a choice. No country can do everything at once. Power, despite what Stephen Miller may think, has limits. So in choosing to send an armada off the coast of Venezuela, what was the United States not able to do at that moment? And if the United States, at the behest of Trump does move against Greenland—and NATO—what will be the cost? And what will tomorrow bring?