Opinion: Can it get any worse? Probably

Last week, Donald Trump capped a tumultuous 6 month Presidential reign with perhaps the most chaotic series of events ever seen from a POTUS. Here is a brief recap.

When writing about Donald Trump, one must be ready for a constantly changing narrative. Trump’s mercurial personality and penchant for chaos is both a blessing and a curse for journalists. Even during what might be a “slow” news cycle under normal Presidential administrations, Trump’s ability to generate copy far surpasses the Press’ ability to keep up with it. Outrageous comments and impulsive tweets can escalate a routine political procedure into a firestorm in a matter of hours. What is also unique about Trump’s Presidency is that it appears to be avoiding consequential accountability for its’ dysfunction, at least so far. Despite low poll numbers, a constant stream of lies, infighting and general turmoil, nothing seems to affect Trump personally. His approach has continued to be the same: attack anyone who dares to question or oppose him with slander, threats or banishment (in the case of his staff). No matter how outrageous his behavior has been, he has not suffered any personal backlash.

And then, there was last week.

Now I can honestly say here that this is more opinion than fact, but I personally cannot remember a more chaotic series of events over a 1-week period for any POTUS during my lifetime. The sheer lunacy and number of earth shattering events over such a brief time certainly appears to be unprecedented, at least in my view. But let’s take a step away from opinion and examine last week’s events with facts, shall we?

Monday, Trump went on a Twitter rant directed at his Attorney general Jeff Sessions over his disappointment with Sessions’ (correct) decision to recuse himself from the ongoing Russian collusion investigation, now being headed by Bob Mueller. By attacking Sessions, one of his most loyal supporters during the election, Trump once again showed that he has no problem quickly throwing colleagues under the bus if they don’t do what he wants. However, his tweets drew the ire of Sessions’ former Senate peers, many Republican and many quick to suggest repercussions for Trump if he were to fire Sessions. Lindsay Graham said point blank that there would be “holy hell to pay” if Sessions were removed. Thar same evening, Trump addressed the annual Boy Scout jamboree with a largely mean and overtly political speech, which drew such negative public response that a Boy Scout official had to issue an apology.

Tuesday, Trump continued his attacks on Sessions, even though he and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell were facing a crucial vote on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. Nevertheless, later that same day Trump held a campaign style rally in Ohio, in which he compared himself favorably to Abraham Lincoln.

Wednesday, Trump sent out a tweet which called for the banning of transgender people to serve in the military. Considering that he suggested that his decision was based on a conference with “generals and military experts”, public perception was that this was now to be law, even though there are already thousands of military personnel who identify as transgender. As it turned out, neither the Joint Chiefs of Staff or Defense Secretary James Mattis were aware of Trump’s decision, and the resulting public backlash caused America’s top military general Joe Dunford to make a statement that there would be no change in military policy until they received formal directions to do so. Later that evening, Trump’s newly appointed Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci sent out a tweet in which he suggested that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus had leaked his financial disclosure forms to the press.

Thursday, excerpts of a Scaramucci interview were revealed in which he blasted Priebus and White House Advisor Steve Bannon with profanity based vulgarity never seen from a White House staffer. He called Priebus a “paranoid schizophrenic” and made references to Bannon’s private parts, amongst other things. Also, new rumors had surfaced that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could be fired, and Jeff Sessions admitted to a reporter that Trump’s attacks had been “kind of hurtful”.

But Friday was the most devastating day of all, as it became clear that Republicans once again had failed to come up with enough votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. This defeat, though it didn’t involve Trump directly, was still crushing, as it signaled his inability to get things done and a failure of his administration to make good on perhaps his biggest campaign promise. Trumps reaction was to deliver a cryptic speech to a Police association in Long Island, in which he suggested that Police treat suspected criminals harshly. “You just see them, throw them in rough – I said please don’t be too nice”. Later that day, he fired Reince Priebus.

Typically, that is enough news to fill several months in a normal Presidential cycle. Since then, newly appointed Chief of Staff John Kelly has fired Scaramucci, making his the shortest tenure in that position ever. And the future? Well, suffice to say it is uncertain. But even with Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation, international tensions rising from North Korea, Iran and now Russia due to tough new sanctions, continued infighting within the White House staff, a revolving door of advisors and cabinet members and record low poll numbers, Donald Trump shows no sign of controlling his id. Ever defiant, he continues to tweet on a whim, make shocking comments, and display his complete lack of understanding about how government works, with little regard for advice from anyone. He continues to be himself and is prepared to go down with the ship, whether the American people like it or not.