As we do most weekends, we turn our attention to Donald Trump's Twitter feed for a look at what the actual sitting president has on his mind. Donald Trump went to his own private golf club again this weekend, which marks the 106th time he has done so since his inauguration. He does so after a week in which his longtime personal lawyer's office and residences were raided by law enforcement and as his ex-FBI director stumps a new book outlining his experiences with the manchild.
He also does so after ordering a military strike in the Middle East. There have been many times, in the past, when presidents have been accused by critics of unleashing the tools of war in an effort to boost their own gravitas, during troubled times at home; fear not, however, for Trump spent his weekend making sure nobody could accuse him of having any gravitas at all. Or common sense. Or facility with the English language. Or ...
Do you remember the days when presidents who, say, took selfies or appeared on comedy shows were accused by puntit-arbiters of degrading the "dignity" of the office? So what do we make of a president who is forever launching himself into feet-stomping public tantrums?
Say what you want about President Cokesniffles, but the man wears his emotions on his thumbs. You know exactly what is most eating at the man, on any given day, by his tweets. There's no attempt at dignity, or filtering, or self-preservation.
While today's tweetstorm been taken up almost exclusively by rants about James Comey and his "badly reviewed book", he still had a wee bit of time to brag yet again about tickling the 50% mark among Republican-leaning pollsters and, of course, Syria. Somewhat. A little.
In the meantime, the White House press secretary is taking to Twitter herself to try to salvage whatever shreds of dignity the Syrian military strike was supposed to have imparted on the man. It did not go well, but it was worth a try. The sitting president of the United States, who is obviously unwell, whose every acquaintance seems now to be under criminal investigation, and who has from public White House schedules apparently largely retreated from much of the pretenses of doing daily "work", in the White House, begins this week under suspicion of being a crook. As for what tomorrow will bring, God only knows.
As a reminder, this man is not worth treating with dignity. He does not seek it; he does not deserve it. The office of the presidency has been forever tainted by his presence; he may have, between his own contempt for ethics laws and eager Republican assistance, rendered it forever a smaller, cheaper and more crooked office than it was when he entered. Treating him with the same dignity we have reserved for other presidents would be an offense against them, and the nation, and every law and tradition the man has so smugly tossed aside.