Did you ever stop to think Trump was posturing?

Yes, I did. However, if that were the case, then posturing has now become the entirety of his campaign. I'd guess that even Trump knows that you can't put up a facade and call it a building, so personally I think we're seeing all the Trump there is to see.

Today, the US pretty much telegraphs everything we do.

I strongly disagree. In fact, republicans have been downright unpatriotic in their attempts to force Obama to reveal his hand. You demand that he be 100% transparent in his dealings with the world, and freak out when he plays his cards close to his chest.

Do you think we should wait until levels of attacks reach some unacceptable level?

No, but I don't think we should be targeting families, nor carpet bombing populations. We need to think about how to make more allies, not more corpses.

By the way I’ve never heard the term “nuclear triad” but evidently you have.

I've encountered it before as a student of history. What Trump needed to do was request clarification. There's nothing wrong with making sure everyone's on the same page. But he couldn't make such a request because that's not how he's wired. When unsure, he resorts to bluster and tries to bury the questioner in feigned confidence and a flurry of non sequiturs. I'm actually kind of surprised by this because it's a dangerous conceit, and I personally don't want the President of the United States trying to bluster his way past his own ignorance.

I think Hillary will be our next president.

Perhaps, perhaps not. A year ago I was, in all sincerity, hoping for a different kind of challenge from the right. I would never have voted for Rand Paul, but I admired his intellect and his decency and I think he could have won many moderate hearts for the GOP. A race between Hillary and Paul is one all Americans could have been proud of. It might have been a truly valuable conversation about what's best about this country. But instead, Trump has twisted the entire conservative effort into a showcase for American fear, anger and ignorance.