Democratic Party stalwarts have devoted much time and energy this week to arguing that Donald Trump is not fit to direct, among other things, American foreign policy as president. Trump bettered them on Wednesday, when he made the case against himself with rash bravado.

All it took were a few sentences at a news conference. In foreign policy, the high-stakes realm in which actions should be measured with wisdom, caution and humility — note the events of the last couple of decades in the Middle East — Trump would be the proverbial bull in the china shop. Or in the South China Sea, for that matter.

The highlight — or should we say lowlight? — of his performance was calling on Russia, China or other foreign powers to locate any emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server that weren’t turned over to the FBI. Her actions in that matter are fair game for political criticism, even of the hyperbolic variety. But to call on Russia and China to use their hacking prowess to interfere in domestic affairs is so far from democratic norms and principles as to be disturbing as, well, many other Trump pronouncements. A day later, he said he was being sarcastic about the open call to hackers, but foreign policy experts remain shocked by his recklessness.

His statement was doubly curious, since computer privacy experts were speculating this week that Russia may have been behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee computers, leading to the release of emails that suggested the DNC used its influence to favor Clinton’s candidacy over Bernie Sanders’. If Russian government involvement is true, that’s a bold and troubling instance of meddling in American politics.

And, it doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to see how sympatico Trump and Vladimir Putin are in their worldviews; their mutual admiration is plain to see. Trump has argued against further Western involvement in Ukraine, a position that is at least arguable because it’s another complex hotspot. But he recently suggested he might not back Baltic NATO nations if Russia moved against them. If he were president, that is the sort of reckless signal that would invite disaster.

When Trump speaks, there is so much chaff among the wheat that it’s hard to separate it. For instance, he also said at the news conference that Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine “did a terrible job in New Jersey” — he was governor of Virginia — and he witlessly called President Obama “the most ignorant president in our history.”

But that’s just standard Trump, who speaks with the glibness of a radio talk show host. Some of that is showmanship, no doubt, but in foreign affairs, where a world audience counts on rational and reliable leadership from America, his “unrealpolitik” invites untold dangers.