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Trump only can blame himself

Like a dog with cans on his tail, President Donald Trump makes a great racket the faster he runs from the Russian investigation. The firing of FBI chief James Comey was part of this clatter; a casually done, unforced error. Not only did he show ignorance of how Washington operates, he willfully turned a blind eye to the consequences of his action.

Not that Trump did not flirt with disaster during the campaign. His comments about “Mexican” judges and other applications of rough language, did him little good. But now he is the president with no central opponent to bounce off of such as Hillary Clinton. During the primaries, victories cooled the firestorms –now it is the daily grind of governance. But he may be lucky because his old critic, the Republican establishment, has rushed to his defense.

His United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley told ABC that Trump had the right to fire whomever he pleased. After all he is the boss and is not the United States one great corporation. She failed to explain how many might see his actions as an attempt to stifle an ongoing investigation. What was doubly worrisome is that Haley explained her position with the simplicity of an average eighth-grader desirous of winning a civics prize. The old Nixonian White House staff would have been thunderstruck by the childishness of it all.

Or maybe Haley could explain how U.S. foreign policy can operate in any cohesive manner while the chief magistrate is bogged down in a possible job-ending scandal. By persisting to defend the president in such a weak way they hasten the day he is removed. These are not steaks or room reservations that are on the line — this is the foreign policy of the world’s premier power.

Speaking of foreign relations, Sergey Lavrov tried to give Trump some space with his visit to Washington. Funny, irreverent and light, Lavrov behaved with consummate skill, something Trump’s “security team” appears unable to do.

Even the aging Henry Kissinger lightened the leader atmosphere of the White House. To be sure Trump has been impulsive, but he has also been ill-served.

When he tried to correct policy toward Russia, Trump found the old-GOP traditionalist firmly blocking his path. For the obstructionism, he gave them an exercise in how not to conduct foreign policy — preferring to heed the tough rhetoric of H.R. McMaster and James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Now his critics, as amateurish as Trump, gawked at his “projection of power.” As he tried to correct his mistake, the old guard tries to undercut him with Russia.

For the GOP, they cannot eschew power. From the day Barack Obama assumed the presidency, they undercut him because they believe they own the White House. Peddling a conservatism that looks more like hucksterism, they even will bolster Trump. But only if he does what they say. Fortunately, Trump is lucky in that his Republican critics are so unprincipled that independents and Democrats are astounded at their horrid opportunism.

Now, Democrats should avoid overplaying their new-found love for the National Security State. Getting Trump will be slim consolation if they bring in the gang that gave you decades of war. The titilation of bright explosives are too much, it would seem, for the GOP. But for now, despite his useless allies, Trump only has himself to blame.

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