The Global Consequences of Trump's Incompetence

"I returned this past weekend from a European vacation: conferencing in Greece, queuing up at Wimbledon, kayaking in Ireland, and generally doing my own small part to stimulate the EU economy. I'm not Tom Friedman, so I didn't interview every taxi driver I encountered, but the one I did talk to was pretty down on the 45th president of the United States. I'm sure there are a few Trump supporters in Europe, but recent surveys suggest they are a distinct minority. That seems to be increasingly true here, too, despite the stubborn loyalty of those supporters who would stick with the guy even if he did, in fact, shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.

Since Donald Trump was inaugurated, a vast amount of ink and billions of pixels have been devoted to documenting, dissecting, condemning, or defending his disregard for well-established norms of decency and political restraint. I'm talking about the blatant nepotism, the vast conflicts of interest, the overt misogyny, and what Fox News's Shepard Smith called the "lie after lie after lie" regarding Trump's relations with Russia. The presidential pendulum has swung from dignified (Barack Obama) to disgusting (Trump), and it's tempting to spend all one's time hyperventilating about his personal comportment rather than his handling of important policy issues...."