SAN DIEGO — So much for the big, beautiful ceasefire. It turns out neither Israel nor Iran was willing to pay for it.

And so, when the task at hand is negotiating peace in the Middle East, Americans and others around the world have the right to ask: Does President Donald Trump know what the f*** he's doing?

There seems to be a lot that the 47th president doesn't understand about one of the more complicated neighborhoods on the planet. Of course, he can't see that. And if he does, he'll never admit it.

Ten years after Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower and announced that he was entering politics, Americans can no longer pretend they don't know what this carnival barker is all about.

By now, we know a few things. We know that Trump's confidence often exceeds his competence. We know that he usually overpromises and underdelivers. We know that oversells his accomplishments. We know that he doesn't have any core principles, and so most things are negotiable. We also know that — in large part because of a victim complex that dates back to being a young businessman from Queens who was looked down on by snooty Manhattanites — he will take credit for everything because he is convinced that he will never get credit for anything. And finally, we know that his special skill is creating alternate realities where, for instance, saying something is so is the same as making it so.

We definitely know that Trump considers himself to be a master dealmaker. But just because he has lost his grip on reality doesn't mean the rest of us have to lose ours too. Let's agree that managing U.S. foreign policy isn't like building apartments on the Upper West Side.

On June 23, just two days after essentially declaring war on Iran by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — Trump was on Truth Social hawking peace and taking credit for bringing tranquility to the Middle East.

Trump posted: "CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!"

Easy-peasy. A conflict that had stumped much brighter minds for decades was a piece of cake for the host of "The Apprentice."

Trump commended Israel and Iran for "having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence" to end what he dubbed "THE 12 DAY WAR."

However, just about 12 hours later, when asked by reporters if Israel or Iran had broken the ceasefire, the president seemed to not be feeling so charitable toward the two countries.

"I think they both violated it," Trump said as he about to leave for a NATO meeting in the Netherlands. "I'm not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn't rein people back."

That's possible. Both Israel and Iran seemed determined to lob missiles at one another right up to the start of the ceasefire. Maybe the two countries were making a legitimate effort to stop the fighting, and it turned out that doing so is an imperfect science.

Are you kidding? This is the Middle East, where violence and war are part of daily life. Besides, for all their differences, Israel and Iran do have something in common: Neither of them takes orders from Trump, whether or not the U.S. president understands this simple fact.

To that point, even after the ceasefire did go into effect, missiles were still flying between the two countries. The deadline meant nothing. This raises another question: When is a ceasefire not really a ceasefire?

Eventually, it seemed to get through to the leader of the free world that no one in the Middle East was paying attention to him.

"I'm not happy with Israel. I'm not happy with Iran either," Trump told reporters. "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing. You understand that?"

Oh, we understand, Mr. President. We understand that, when it comes to the Middle East — and many other issues — you're in over your head.

A few hours later, aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ceasefire was back on.

If you say so, Mr. President. Because if you're saying it, it must be true. This much we know.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Jeff Kingma at Unsplash