Loopiness at the highest level encourages a certain type of staff response. According to the Axios report on the nuclear proposal, the shocked national security briefer answered, “Sir, we’ll look into that.” Which is the answer of a staffer hoping the topic will never be raised again. Under a president such as Trump, a considerable amount of White House staff time and energy is devoted not to managing urgent crises or pursuing the country’s good — but to minimizing the damage of the boss’s strangeness and poor judgment. In this type of atmosphere, the agenda is often set by a leader’s obsessions, rather than by opportunities or obligations. Staffers must hold their breath at every presidential press availability, and during every tweet storm, wondering what random, ridiculous notion might dominate their week, or month, or year.
Then-Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) once referred to Trump’s White House as an “adult day care center.” This means, among other things, that it can’t properly focus on the needs of the nation.
Outside of government, it is easy for Trump’s followers to become invested in his nonsense. The authority of the presidency can give absurd proposals and theories a veneer of credibility. And because of the demands of political tribalism, lunacy can become defined as loyalty. Craziness can spread like a flu epidemic. However low Trump goes, his supporters go low with him.
And then there is the risk — however effective the White House staff, Congress and the courts might be at blocking Trump’s pixilated ideas — that one of them might slip through. And let’s hope it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-try-to-explain-away-trumps-crazy-ideas/2019/08/26/569dc736-c82d-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html
