Do any political leaders actually ever really make decisions that strongly go against their own personal brand in terms of foreign policy (potentially related, this book on the subject of how presidents make decisions about war that are generally linked to their self interest:
https://www.amazon.com/Spoils-War-Co.../dp/1610396626) ? It's just that most political leaders see their their brand as being about winning the next election and securing a legacy, with some business considerations (like for Washington in the book linked) thrown in than Trump does.
Therefore A is not a differentiating aspect of the Trump presidency. The differentiating aspect of the Trump presidency is that he is not able to understand much but even him refusing to look in any way weak ever in a mob boss type of way reminds me very much of Lyndon Johnson's attitude concerning the decision making around the Vietnam
War as described at length in The Best and the Brightest by Halberstam.