trump’s Speech Reveals a White House in Disarray

When a president gives a primetime televised speech, it is typically about something of serious import: to make the case for a major new policy or to announce the beginning of a war.

President Donald Trump’s speech on Wednesday night had no grave significance. In fact, there didn’t seem to be much of a point at all.

The speech was a jumble of his usual false or even impossible claims – like a promise to reduce prescription drug costs by an impossible 400 percent – smashed together in no particular order. The speech began with a discussion of the cost of living, a subject he would drop and than return to as if just remembering that it was the number one reason his polls were low. Even the delivery was weird: Seemingly under network time constraints, the president read off the teleprompter angrily and quickly, speaking with the motormouth intensity of a 20-something banker who just discovered cocaine and now has a realy great idea for a new restaurant.

So why am I writing about it at all?

As the fact that it happened at all tells us something much more crucial: that the Trump administration is sinking, and his White House has no idea what to do about it.

The haphazard presidency,in one crystal clear moment

Earlier this week,I described the president’s second term governing style as “haphazard.”