One is the Loneliest Number

Mr. Trump has a vetting problem. He cannot distinguish between friend and foe. When he surveys the universe, it is filled only with enemies, domestic and foreign.

From those once in his good graces who have  seemingly done him wrong, Sean Spicer to James Comey, Jeff Sessions to Robert Mueller and beyond. From those in Congress who refuse to accede to his ludicrous demands on the Wall to the judges who fail to sanction his most outrageous mandates regarding immigration, to the media who refuse to treat him and his infantile tweets and proclamations as sacrosanct.

And beyond our shores, Mr. Trump's dark night is replete with those who have wronged us, or intend to do so if we are not vigilant. Not merely ISIS or North Korea, but those with whom we have joined forces,  from NATO to Germany, from our trading partners in the TPP to our G-20 allies in protecting the planet from further erosion, to those nations who formulated and executed a deal with Iran.

The problem with suggesting that Mr. Trump has a plan to save Western Civilization is that this is belied by the paranoia that is at the heart of his every action. Everywhere this man looks he sees someone or something out to destroy him, or us. He is, by dint of his internal design, unable to make judgments predicated on the nuances and signs we analyze each day in coming to rational and logical decisions.

So we are, as a nation, stuck in an endless loop of blunders, even as we fear tomorrow may be worse. For our leader is driven not by his capacity to divine, but by his inability to see beyond the fog that is the essence of Donald Trump. 

While we understand that no man is an island, it certainly seems that our leader each day recedes further into a world inhabited by no one other than himself.