Dashing madly off in all directions

The Times tells us that Trump and his gang have in fact noticed that doing stupid things very quickly doesn’t necessarily work out well.

But one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success.

The bungled rollout of his executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a flurry of other miscues and embarrassments, and an approval rating lower than that of any comparable first-term president in the history of polling have Mr. Trump and his top staff rethinking an improvisational approach to governing that mirrors his chaotic presidential campaign, administration officials and Trump insiders said.

Surprise surprise surprise – it’s not actually a job you can just make up as you go. Who knew?! Who knew that it’s a large and complicated job requiring lots and lots of consultation and thought and responsibility and care? What possible way could anyone have to know that ahead of time?

This account of the early days of the Trump White House is based on interviews with dozens of government officials, congressional aides, former staff members and other observers of the new administration, many of whom requested anonymity. At the center of the story, according to these sources, is a president determined to go big but increasingly frustrated by the efforts of his small team to contain the backlash.

God he’s a fool. What did he think would happen? That it would be exactly like a daydream? That he would say what to do and people would do it and instant awesomeness would occur?

One former staff member likened the aggressive approach of the first two weeks to D-Day, but said the president’s team had stormed the beaches without any plan for a longer war.

Well, plus…also…hi…it’s not D-Day? At all? In any way? Not to mention the fact that D-Day took more than two fucking years to plan and implement? That thousands of highly trained experts from several countries were involved in the planning and implementation? That it was decidedly not a matter of Churchill just waving his hand and saying “Invade Europe now!”? That it couldn’t be more different from Trump’s reckless amateur way of carrying on if it tried? The president’s team absolutely did not storm any god damn beaches – they did the equivalent of wading into the Channel in Southampton carrying pistols and then standing there looking stupid.

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