Reporting News and Opinions
Trump’s chronic shortage of grace is not a glitch. It is the operating system. The man treats basic human decency the way most people treat leftover brussels sprouts: with suspicion, then disposal. But even by his standards, the latest performance deserves a special citation for tastelessness.
A president cannot bind his successors with executive orders. This is not radical constitutional theory. It is the plain, unromantic fact of the American system. Executive orders are the administrative equivalent of sticky notes left on the Resolute Desk: useful for the person who wrote them, mildly binding on the next occupant only for as long as that occupant finds them convenient, and entirely disposable the moment convenience ends
Donald Trump has always treated geography the way a child treats a map drawn in crayon: everything outside the gilt-edged boundaries of Mar-a-Lago is, by definition, a shithole. Africa, in particular, occupies a special place in this cartography of contempt. It is not merely distant; it is disposable. In his second coming, the man who once governed by tweet now governs by decree, treating Congress as an optional accessory and the Constitution as a set of polite suggestions best ignored when they inconvenience the royal will.
There was a time when Mike Rogers occupied a particular place in my understanding of American politics. He appeared to belong to that category of Republican politicians who, whatever their ideological differences with Democrats, understood that national security was too serious a business to be reduced to partisan theatre. He was measured, disciplined, informed and, above all, appeared to be a man who understood the difference between intelligence work and political propaganda.
When a leader becomes more interested in the symbol of his authority than the substance of his government, politics begins to resemble a cult. The insignia becomes the message, the slogan becomes the policy, and the citizen is expected to admire the packaging while living with the consequences.
