It is a testament to the inherent stability and resilience of the American system of government that it has not completely disintegrated in the past 13+ months in the face of the appalling chaos and dysfunction of the White House and the Trump administration in general. Over the past week Hope Hicks and now Gary Cohn have joined the ranks of the unprecedented number of high-level White House staff exiting through the revolving door, with even more likely to follow in the near future. Of course, in typical black-is-white lying mode, Trump denies that there is any WH chaos, and simultaneously praises a culture of chaos and conflict! Unfortunately, that is not to say that there has not already been significant damage to the fabric of our executive branch and its many departments. There will be really major trouble if, as is highly likely, this dysfunction continues for another three years. This will obviously have real and possibly long-lasting negative consequences for our government’s function and therefore for the entire country, even if/when Trump is booted out after this term (or hopefully sooner). Meanwhile Trump is likely to make many more bad decisions such as the steel and aluminum tariffs just based on his own inclinations and ignorance, and his unwillingness to listen to people who know infinitely more than he does if they disagree with him.

The other hot and pretty amazing news is porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump regarding the hush money ($130,000) she was paid a short time before the 2016 election in return for a confidentiality agreement against disclosing her affair with him in 2006. The amazing thing is that the complaint filed with the court in an attempt to nullify the agreement (because it was never signed by Trump using a pseudonym of David Dennison!) includes many of the details of the affair as well as the process of trying to cover it up! So much for confidentiality, whether the suit is successful or not! The complaint alleges that the payoff was Trump’s idea. It is also reported that Michael Cohen, who supposedly used his own money for the payoff, complained to friends that Trump never paid him back! That part is certainly completely believable and vintage Trump! This also reignites questions about whether this violated campaign finance laws. One can only hope that Trump is forced to give a deposition in this case, which should be very entertaining at the least. You do have to feel sorry for Melania, and not just for this one! I think it is still in the realm of possibility that at some point she reaches the breaking point and picks up and goes back to New York to live, if not get a divorce, although I suspect Trump was a smart enough businessman to have a prenuptial agreement that would be a huge disincentive for her to divorce him. I suspect that even a divorce would not peel off many diehard Trump supporters, who would either not care or would find a way to blame HER! "SAD!!"