Let’s first understand that “greatness” does not mean “goodness.” In history, greatness lies in a leader’s ability to save or change a nation, to create or destroy institutions. Achieving greatness usually requires hurting a lot of people.

Alexander of Macedon was great because he was the best military thinker of his time and built an empire by fighting wars from Macedonia to India. An 18th-century czar became Peter the Great when he transformed a backward nation into an empire that eventually reached all the way from the Baltic Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, complete with a modern army and navy.

Such rulers’ greatness stemmed from the destruction of other nations, conquered and folded into the rulers’ empires.

Trump’s greatness stems from the destruction of his own country, with the rest of the world suffering collateral damage.