Hold onto your belongings …
The president presents his cynicism, and that of his acting chief of staff and his erratic personal lawyer, as tough-guy street smarts. It’s not. Their cynicism is the product of a peculiar and not particularly savory business micro-climate in New York, and his own disordered personality. It has yielded nothing in foreign affairs, beyond embarrassingly failed negotiations with North Korea, a trade war with China, betrayal of allies in the Middle East, and a cold war with Iran in which the United States looks to be unable to protect Saudi Arabia. It will get worse as the president becomes more erratic and more incapable of attracting competent subordinates.