The enemy within—within the White House

Paul Krugman nailed it: “When the Fire Comes”. So did the Washington Post: “Trump paints a picture of a dystopian America that doesn’t exist”. President Trump is cranking up the volume in the anticipation of the next terrorist attack, or the next police shooting¹, in order to announce that chaos reigns, that the gloves are coming off, and our civil liberties—what’s left of them—are “moot”. Trump’s entire campaign—which won the support of 46% of the American people—was based on an hysterical view of the American scene that (probably) would have embarrassed Roger Ailes.²

In Trump’s Twitter war with Federal District Court James Robart, the president was setting himself up for a direct confrontation with the American judicial system. Fortunately, the three-judge beatdown he received from the Ninth Circuit seems to have caused him to retreat an inch. And now the “controversy” swirling about execrable (literally³) national security advisor Michael Flynn looks to be shaping up as another painful bump in the road. The trouble is, nothing brings out the worst in Trump like failure. But the fact that he’s now kissing up to China, and pretending not to notice that the North Koreans launched another missile, provide some comfort. It’s okay to grasp at straws, as long as you know they’re straws.

Afterwords
If that weren’t enough—and, well, it is—the president is also industriously working to provoke a confrontation overseas with Iran, as noted over at the American Conservative by both Daniel Larison and Michael Horton. So don’t take those straws I was just grasping at too seriously. Even if Flynn is excreted, it’s unlikely to make much difference.

UPDATE
Flynn’s gone! Good news, because whatever embarrasses Trump and slows his momentum is one for us.