DEAR EDITOR:

Back when presidents had advisers who were expected to give them advice rather than massage their egos by telling them what they wanted to hear, Gen. Colin Powell warned George W. Bush about the dangers of invading Middle Eastern countries by quoting the Pottery Barn rule. “You break it, you own it.”

Twenty-four years later, no one around President Trump would have had the temerity to remind him of the rule. But it wouldn’t have mattered, because Trump has rewritten it to suit himself: I break it, you own it.

Unlike other presidents, Trump did not consult with ou r traditional allies about his plan to bomb Iran into the Middle Ages, nor did he discuss how they might unite in response to an almost inevitable blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The only leader he apparently talked to was Bibi Netanyahu, who has been trying for 30 years to persuade a U.S. president to do Israel’s heavy lifting in a war with Iran.

As oil prices soar, Trump is issuing ultimatums to the very allies he kept out of the loop. He has been denigrating Europe and NATO for decades, saying they ripped off the United States. He now demands that they give him the support and comity they have historically gotten from every president BUT him.

There is no doubt that the United States is today a superpower — one that has been built and reinforced during the 75 years following World War II. But a superpower, or an empire, rises and falls.

Trump is, unfortunately, accelerating the decline of our pre-eminence. It could take years or decades, but the process of, say, a 19th-century Britain becoming a 20th-century Britain can be fast or slow. It happens faster if the leader of, say, the 21st-century American superpower gives priority not to the nation, but to himself, his family’s wealth and his legacy.

Trump is playing the bully while leading an aging America, both in trade wars and on battlegrounds. As he destroys alliances, he encourages allies to seek new ones and new trade agreements. As they become more powerful, the once superpower is no longer the international alpha dog; they’re just another member of the pack.

Eventually, a new superpower towers over all of them (the smart money now would be on China).

This is unlikely to happen in Trump’s lifetime. Trump and his descendants for generations will be rich beyond the wildest dreams of his MAGA true believers. But our country, our children and our grandchildren will ultimately pay the price for his arrogance, indifference and greed — not to mention his contempt for history.

DENNIS B. MANGAN

Howland