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President Trump at Ebb Tide
There is that moment when you stand at the edge of the ocean with your feet in the water, when before you can see it, you feel it: the water and the sand start rushing back out, precursor to the retraction of the sea. Not the beginning or the end; the shift in the middle part of the cycle signaling change.
That is what the last few days have felt like for the Trump Administration.
It was predictable, but the suddenness of when it happened still caught many off guard. The momentary success of the rare bi-partisan piece of legislation in the First Steps act was one piece of news. The announcement of troop withdrawals from Syria was another. Then there is the semi-annual government shutdown theater, this time with the twist of President Trump making good on a threat to not sign a bill that didn’t have his wall in some form or fashion included. So off dashed the representatives for a late evening vote to change the continuing resolution, and now we wait on the Senate.
Then came the news that Secretary of Defense James Mattis is stepping down.
In truly Trumpian fashion, it was first announced on the presidents Twitter feed as a “retirement,” which seemed plausible enough as Mattis had been on rocky terms with the White House for some months. But soon thereafter when Mattis’ resignation letter became public, along with…
