There is a saying attributed to the ancient Greek poet Archilochus: “The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” In his most recent Wall Street Journal column Walter Russell Mead in analyzing our conflict with Iran writes:
Iran may be a hedgehog, but Donald Trump is a fox, and he’s unlikely to give up until he’s tried every trick in the book.
I confess that I’m baffled by Dr. Mead’s column. Dr. Mead points to President Trump’s willingness to try many different tactics. But Archilochus didn’t say that the fox does many things; he said that the fox knows many things. Those are not the same. A hedgehog may employ a great variety of tactics in pursuit of a single overriding conviction. I agree that the Iranian regime is “a hedgehog”. Their one big thing is that they want the regime to survive.
However, I don’t think he has sufficiently demonstrated that President Trump is a “fox” in Archilochus’s sense. My own view is that President Trump is also a hedgehog. His one big thing is winning. Once viewed through that lens, many actions that otherwise seem disconnected become much easier to understand. Dr. Mead sees Trump’s willingness to employ many different tactics as evidence that he is a fox. I see those tactics as instruments in the service of a single overriding objective.
So, rather than a fox on one side faced by a hedgehog, we have two hedgehogs with diametrically opposed single big things. I don’t see how they can both be right.
