(CNN) On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump woke up and tapped out this tweet:

"Many good conversations with North Korea-it is going well! In the meantime, no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months. All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining. If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!"

There's a tendency -- amid all the wild claims and odd capitalization -- to lose sight of what Trump is claiming in these tweets. In this one, he is literally saying that the United States would be in armed conflict with North Korea -- a nuclear power -- if he were not President.

Which is, um, a pretty big claim.

It's in keeping with Trump's broad view of his role on, well, everything. In situation after situation, Trump perceives himself as a great man of history, someone who bends the courses of countries to his will.

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