We have a madman in the house, the White House.

By that I mean Donald Trump is a bit insane, drunk with power and revenge, and full of fury, at the one-eighth mark of his presidency. One-eighth. Time to grapple with the grave reality, that the president captured the Constitution’s restraints, Congress and the Supreme (Extreme) Court. Under his smooth facade, Chief Justice John Roberts is the worst since Roger Taney, who in 1857 evilly ruled that Blacks could never become citizens. In six months, the tragic truth is clear. Trump acts in ever more reckless ways that scuttle every good thing about government — especially the expert federal workforce. Mass firings are under way.

Texas is paying the price in a July 4 Biblical flood that claimed the lives of 36 children. A convicted felon, Trump says he can get away with anything in office: “whatever I want.” Yes, even his suspicious ties and lies regarding the dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Bye-bye, Education Department. Nice knowing you, Voice of America. Hey State, cut to shreds, the Pete Hegseth Pentagon takes it from here on foreign policy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, you’re the new masked face of America. Very nice. And look forward to “more agents on streets” degrading our shared spaces. Thanks, Thomas Homan, former ICE director, for those mass deportations and overseas detentions.

But on the bright side, let’s go to “billionaires’ summer camp” this week in Sun Valley, Idaho. They’re counting on their personal and corporate tax breaks, thanks to Trump’s July 4 bill largesse.However, huge tariffs Trump suddenly threatens to kick in on Aug. 1 are of great concern to our allies, neighbors and 25 trading partners.

The paper of record, The New York Times, treated this softly and gingerly: “Trump’s Interest in Making Trade Deals Seems to Fade,” read the headline. That storyline, while strictly true, is not fair to hurting farmers who export crops, nor to our European Union friends, shocked that Trump blew up delicate trade negotiations.

Why? Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, may well wonder. It’s no secret Trump hates women in high places with a vengeance. Ask Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who ripped up his speech behind his back. (Note: Trump fired the former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and former John F. Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter overnight.)

The Times did better at bat on July 15 with a second story: “Bluffing Aside, U.S. Tariffs Bite Real Economy.” Take a moment to send sympathy to Jerome Powell, the Republican Federal Reserve chairman, who takes abuse from Trump like no other president has dished it out to the independent Fed. Yet will the public ever understand why Trump hates Harvard University, the oldest and greatest in the land? The press matter-of-factly reports his extraordinary campaign to weaken Harvard, not batting an eye.

You read it here first. Trump, the only president in history who makes a proud point of not reading, revives a deep part of our national character.

The brilliant Richard Hofstadter’s “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life,” published in 1963, reads as if it’s all about now, the fervent and frequently fact-free MAGA movement fired by Trump. Can his base accept that good government could have saved lives in the Texas Hill Country? Scores died not only because the river rose. The alerts sounded late.

Vain Kristi Noem, Trump’s Homeland Security head, did not respond in a timely manner. The cuts Trump made to the National Weather Service, the ocean agency and federal emergency management played a part. A “warning coordination meteorologist” post was vacant because of Trump tearing through the service.

Americans need answers and explanations — not soft-focus reports that hint the backlash against science, vaccines and fluoride is part of a coherent program fond of nostalgia. Dmitry Grozoubinski, a trade expert quoted in The Wall Street Journal, spoke dryly to our July condition as we live governed by wild veers. “It is very, very clear that what constitutes an acceptable landing zone is entirely within one person’s mind and constantly shifts.”

Exactly.

The Titanic captain, racing through North Atlantic icebergs of ego one clear cold April night, could not match Trump.

The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.

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