In 2017, Gen. David Petraeus was asked about President Donald Trump's mercurial foreign policy. It's an approach some have likened to the "madman theory," which holds that you make other countries believe you are capable of anything as a means of keeping them in check and earning concessions.
Petraeus said the strategy can work. But he also noted that it carried a disproportionate downside.
“There may, again, be some merit into the madman theory — until you get in a crisis,” he said. “But you do not want the other side thinking you are irrational in a crisis.