January 7, 2020

Loss of control
A news report on Saturday used the phrase “out of control.”  The reference was to the fires devastating Australia, but it could be applied as aptly to the US government.  Trump, weak and insecure, wanted to show that he is strong and decisive. Panicked by impeachment, he needed to change the subject.  Solution: risk war by assassinating an Iranian general.  Whatever the latter’s sins, it wasn’t bright to, at a stroke, unite fractured Iranian and Shiite communities against us.  Trump criticized Obama for withdrawing troops from Iraq.  Reacting to Trump’s act, its parliament now has demanded that we get out completely.

Trump’s benighted followers think he is making America great again, but virtually everything he does weakens it.  His latest gambit has disrupted actions against ISIS.  His war-crime threat to bomb cultural sites has been rejected by his own Defense Department.  He played fast and loose with military aid to Ukraine, thus aiding Russia, in an attempt to corruptly influence the next election.  He has been played for a fool by North Korea, responding to its newest threat by babbling that Kim likes him.  Despite the fires in Australia, he will reject climate science and make matters worse by supporting use of fossil fuels.

Risking war is merely the latest manifestation of loss of control, of minimal rationality, in this dysfunctional administration.