DON MAGOO

It's no secret Donald Trump has a weak spot for rich, powerful men, guys like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. He appears to enjoy being seen in their company. I think he would like to be thought of in terms similar to those fellows: rich, powerful men, able to do anything they want, including (especially) having trouble-makers whacked.

In other words, mob bosses.

I think a case could be made Trump aspires to be just like them.

(From a Frontline documentary about Trump's upbringing: His dad referred to people as either winners or losers. Interestingly, the preferred term for winner was "killer.")

Well, Trump's got the money and right now he's got the power. He'll still have the money when he leaves office (sooner or later). But he'll suffer a serious ding on the power side of mob bossiness when he can no longer count on drone strikes to make his displeasure known.

Bummer, dude.

Anyway, until quite recently it could be said Trump was missing crucial points in the "whack a guy" category.

But no more. First Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now Qasem Soleimani. Trump is out there, baby, living large and dropping the hammer on folks in the Middle East.

And he has his reasons. Bad guys are going down.

Bad, at least, from our perspective. The men Trump rubbed out had a strong following in what we would probably characterize as the Bizarro World. Hate to be the one to tell you, but killing Americans is considered a tip-top activity in some regions.

Now that his personal body count is on the rise, though, we get to see if Trump can start to relax. He's made his bones, okay? Isn't it time to let out some slack? It would give us all a chance to catch our breaths.

One scary thought: What if he develops a taste for wet work?

Trump's been lucky, so far. Iran's promised "harsh" revenge hasn't actually killed anybody.

That's our position, at least. The Iranians report many dead as a result of their missile strikes on our air bases. American bones were crushed, is how they put it. Might not be a good idea to push back on their version too hard.

Could inspire them to try again.

The situation has now been complicated by the downing of the Ukraine International passenger jet, presumably by hair-trigger missile defenses in the hours following Iran's retaliatory attack in Iraq.

Impossible, the Iranians say. Lies and more lies. American psyops in action. I guess we'll see. We may ultimately get a chorus of "look what you bastards made us do."

Meanwhile, it's not too late for others to offer their version of revenge attacks in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. Proxy forces abound. Will Soleimani's replacement keep them in check (presuming the Supreme Leader wants it that way)?

Can those dedicated hotheads be reigned in by anybody?

So far, Trump has bumbled about like Mr. Magoo, oblivious to the consequences of his actions and apparently unaware of the danger he just barely escapes.

But you can't live in a cartoon world forever.