The high-level individuals leaving the Trump administration must be a record. Eleven since the end of January averaging out to almost two per month. The latest, Mr. Anthony Scaramucci, now holds a record of sorts as the shortest serving White House communications director in history. He was in office exactly ten days when the White House Chief of Staff, General John Kelly -- himself a new hire -- fired him on Monday.
Among
other problems, this chaos in the White House has also prevented a
coherent policy on Russia. The president wants to improve relations
with Russia -- a view supported by the major European powers. That this
commonality of interests could have been turned into concrete support
is plain to see, and that it was not makes White House incompetence
transparent. Had he been so armed, he could have gone to the American
people and talked about the negative consequences of the sanctions, the
economic costs to Europe, plus worsening relations and the upping of tensions with
the only military power capable of destroying America. Instead, a
naked president received a bill passed by veto-proof majorities in the
House and Senate -- the latter in a vote of 98 - 2. Note only does the
bill increase sanctions on Russia, but it impedes any effort on his part to remove them.
In
six months he has been unable to muster any kind of support on Russia
in Congress; he is unable to use the bully pulpit to speak directly to
the American people or make any effort to sway any but the most ardent
of his supporters -- such failure for a move towards peace, which most
Americans correctly informed about Ukraine would welcome. Instead we
get 2 a.m. infantile rants on real and perceived slights.
Putin's
patience has run out. His response to the sanctions: an unprecedented
expulsion of 755 U.S. diplomats. Crimea will never be given up.
Iran
has decided to ignore the slights against it in the sanctions bill, and
it is understandable when both Trump and Netanyahu together are
spoiling for a fight. The last object of congressional ire in the bill,
North Korea, has delivered a metaphorical middle finger raised from a
closed fist in the form of a missile rising straight up. The experts
inform us that its trajectory and height demonstrate a capacity to reach
any city in the United States.
Trump's
response was belligerent and telling. He assured us any war would be
fought over there. In other words, 'America first' applies also to
South Korean and Japanese lives. In the Korean war, the north wanted to
bomb Japan because it was being used as a bomber base, but its Chinese
and Russian sponsors were afraid of expanding the war. No such
constraints now. As for the other U.S. staunch ally, South Korea, a
third of its population lives in Seoul and its suburbs are all within heavy
artillery range. The resulting carnage could cost hundreds of thousands
of lives.
It's an ill wind ... as the saying goes, and it is blowing some good. The late-night talk-show comedians are having a ball. Belly-splitting skits and satire abound. Michael Moore the activist film maker has a show 'The Terms of My Surrender' that has just opened on Broadway. The tagline "Can a Broadway show bring down a President?" might appear far-fetched until you realize Moore predicted early that Trump would win and even gave the reasons why. He believes the way to bring down this absurd presidency is by laughing at him. "His thin skin is so thin," he says, "he can't take being laughed at."
