As usual Krugman gets a lot wrong here, most importantly by giving Trump too much credit.
Firstly, it assumes coherence on Trump's part. What is a win to him? It is a loss because X and Y conditions weren't met. But no, Trump is a wet noodle without such basic standards and goals. He's been unable to lay out a win or loss condition.
Then there's this: "It’s far more likely that Hegseth and Trump have also been receiving false, optimistic reports"
Well that alone is Krugman pretty much undermining the rest of his piece. If they don't know what's going on, well, that's that. The rest of it comes to nothing.
It needs to be consistently pointed out that #Trump is such a loser incapable of managing much of anything. Here Krugman almost suggests that Trump is a fine manager with misguided goals.
He has no goals.
