A presidency in disarray

A defensive Donald Trump is bad news for the world

If it took 10 days to shake the world with the Russian revolution in November 1917, it may have taken five days of serial disasters in the last week of July for US President Donald Trump to precipitate a global crisis in 2017. Cornered by an aggressive pushback from Congress, the military and mavens within his own party, and battling historically low popularity ratings, it is possible that the maverick president may be dangerously attracted to a diversionary confrontation with China over North Korean missile tests. Many presidents face problems in their initial days in office, but last week’s developments have been exceptional in post-World War II US history. 

The opening act of the bizarre reality show that is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue began mid-week with a virtuoso performance by the new Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. “The Mooch”, Wall Street financier and one-time Democrat supporter, betrayed stunning ignorance of the rules of engagement with the media or, indeed, any rules at all, after he regaled a New Yorker staff writer with expletives against colleagues Reince Priebus, then presidential chief of staff, and Steve Bannon, chief strategist, and resolved to have the Federal Bureau of Investigation spy on staff to identify leakers — a constitutional impossibility. The simultaneous replacement of the staunchly loyal Mr Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a former general and enthusiastic supporter of a restrictive immigration doctrine, has added to the turmoil among White House aides. 

Mr Priebus’ replacement closely follows the president’s criticism and threats of dismissal, communicated through The New York Times, against Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator whose 2016 endorsement boosted Mr Trump’s campaign, and Robert Mueller, who heads the investigation into Russian interference in the US elections. Mr Sessions’ “offence” was recusing himself from the Russian investigation for non-disclosure during confirmation hearings of meeting Russian officials. These revelations prompted avowed pro-Trump Republicans to openly warn the president of a revolt if he acted on his threats. Mr Trump compounded these ructions by gratuitously tweeting about a ban on transgender people serving in the military. He had discussed this with his generals, he said, but the Pentagon swiftly clarified that the policy had not been changed. 

Rounding off a disastrous week, Mr Trump suffered a double whammy in a Congress controlled, ironically, by his own party. First came the overwhelming House vote for a Bill blocking the president from weakening sanctions against Russia. Then came the bigger setback: The “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act failed to pass the Senate with three Republicans voting against it, marking the third defeat of a key campaign promise. As Congress heads for the summer recess, a maverick Supreme Leader across the Pacific, client of the rising and bellicose superpower China, seems determined to provoke a combustible American president’s mettle by firing test missiles with capabilities of reaching the US mainland. Saner incumbents before Mr Trump have leveraged overseas threats to distract from domestic crises — for instance, in the throes of a sex scandal, Bill Clinton famously bombed Iraq in 1998. But a war between nuclear-armed superpowers is the last thing the world can afford as it emerges from the long winter of global recession.