This week in the saga

He leaves the summit in Canada a day early and will not say why, only that it is much bigger than a cease fire. Four days later, on a Saturday evening, the country learns from his feed that its bombers have been over Iran: three nuclear sites hit, a full payload on the primary one, all planes already out of Iranian airspace. The Pentagon briefs it the next morning. Three hours after the strike he promises that any retaliation will be met with far greater force, and by Sunday afternoon he is asking in public why there would not be a regime change. Monday the retaliation comes and it is announced in advance — fourteen missiles, thirteen knocked down, one let through because it was going nowhere — and he thanks Iran for the early notice. Then, at two minutes past six that evening, he ends the war himself: a ceasefire agreed between two countries that have not stopped shooting, timed in six-hour increments, and named in the same paragraph. Twelve days. He gave it the name before the guns cooled.