After Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, the most incisive analysis concluded that "his critics had taken him literally, but not seriously, while his supporters took him seriously but not literally." It has become clear that neither view is correct: Trump must be taken both seriously and literally, regardless of the consequences of his thinking. The new president said he would challenge and defeat the "Washington establishment." While his commitment to "draining the swamp" can be questioned, his readiness to disrupt the status quo cannot. Trump thrives on chaos and sees advantage in it. The world must prepare for four years of disruption and disorder.

In his first week, the new president laid out a vision of his country that was darker than any previous inaugural address and rejected many of the principles that had guided U.S. foreign policy throughout the postwar era, embracing an unapologetic "America First" position. He followed that with a public fight over reporting of the crowd size at his inauguration, a speech at the CIA that made little or no sense, a TV interview that was virtually incoherent and a diplomatic spat with Mexico that resulted in the cancellation of a visit by that country's president.

Meanwhile, throughout the week he issued a series of executive orders that surprised many of the people charged with implementing them and lacked the usual vetting by legal authorities in the administration. He ordered a wall to be built along the border with Mexico and insisted that his southern neighbor would pay for it. His new ambassador to the United Nations warned that "For those who don't have our backs, we're taking names." Trump publicly endorsed torture, claimed without evidence that as many as 5 million people voted illegally in the election, and laid down benchmarks for health care reform that no one thinks are possible. He antagonized Democrats and Republicans, although the latter are loath to say so out loud. The week concluded with an executive order that bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days and suspends the U.S.' refugee system for a period of 120 days. This repudiates one of America's most hallowed principles — "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free," a creed that is engraved on the Statue of Liberty.