So Easy...

Thankfully, there's now a brief respite from the insanity of Trump's vanity. He raved, he caved and then he gave his little, teeny weeny thumbs up to fund the government for 3 weeks so that negotiations can take place. In theory, said negotiations will produce a compromise that will both salvage Trump's fragile ego by providing some funding for border security (and his thoroughly useless wall) and fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year.

Frankly, I'm not holding my breath that a grand compromise will be struck...again. Because, remember, there already was a compromise that was voted on and approved by the Senate, and the House recently approved the very same once Nancy & Co. took over a few weeks ago. What has changed in Trump's political calculus since then? The fact that he just got scorched by Speaker Pelosi? Or maybe he'll recognize how many Republican senators had begun to jump ship from the good ship S.S. Trump?

All of these questions presume a level of mental balance and capacity for basic analytical thinking, two constructs that are rarely associated with current resident of the White House. "But wait," you might say. "Surely, the adults in his administration will steer him in the right direction. After all..." After all, what? After it's been reported that Trump's immediate step after capitulation was to cast about among his closest advisers looking for someone to blame, including his very own son-in-law, Jared "the boy blunder" Kushner?

Cynical? Am I? No, not really. I'm more skeptical, since past behavior and performance are usually the best predictors of future action likely to be taken by this narcissistic president who has repeatedly shown very little inclination to heed the counsel, even that of those closest to him. No, he's made it very clear from the beginning, that only he can fix things...especially, since only (or mostly) because he has been responsible for making a complete and utter mess of things in the first place.

Government shutdown? You would think it's a no brainer to prevent a second one, given the profound consequences of the first:

• to individuals - the 800,000 public servants who went without pay for 5 weeks; 
• to institutions - the degradation of federal agencies' capacity to serve and protect us; and 
• to our international standing - yes, now the whole world really is laughing at us. 

Leave it to a self-centered, amoral, entitled and deeply troubled man to transform the world's "indispensable nation" into a smoldering hot mess of dysfunction and paralysis. And he does all this without so much as blinking an eye. And what of the fact that he got absolutely nothing from his extended temper tantrum? Who cares? The fact that he, on a national stage and, very publicly, got his you-know-what handed to him by Speaker Pelosi? All part of his grand strategy - I'm sure - whatever the heck that might be.

And, finally, will he do it again if he doesn't get exactly what he wants in another three weeks once negotiations have produced the grand bargain on border security? Hard to say, since he probably doesn't even know what it is he wants. I wager he won't hesitate to shut down the government again. And why not? It'll "energize his base" and, more importantly, it's so easy for Trump...

Oh, but wait. Even this "cave" man couldn't manage to do that. But he managed to trash our country while trying anyway.