THE CRISIS – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  We cheer the appointment of John Kelly, retired Marine four-star general, to be White House chief of staff.  His appointment provides great opportunity for the White House to be brought under control, and relieved of its day-to-day chaos.

But his appointment also underlines the crisis we face:  We have a creative, hard-working president with some terrific ideas, but he is a terribly flawed, undisciplined, egotistical man who is destroying his own administration.  Why, just yesterday, the president was on Long Island, speaking about the need for border control, sane immigration, and the fact that we must support our police officers.  Good stuff, especially his concern for the men and women who protect us every day.

But then, typical of Trump, he went off-message and started urging officers to rough up those they arrest, an absolute violation of accepted police procedure.  In this democracy, punishment is meted out by courts, not arresting officers.

A police organization immediately rebuked the president. 

Imagine, he came to praise police, and wound up being slapped on the wrist by a major police group for his irresponsible advice.

That's Trump, and Trump is becoming a tragedy.  He is heading into Nixon territory.  Nixon was driven from the presidency not by the smallish sins of Watergate, but because he was Richard Nixon.  If Jack Kennedy had done what Nixon did, it would have been on page 46.  Nixon was disliked, even within his own party.  A remarkably capable and knowledgeable man, he was the author of his own disaster.

Trump is writing his presidential book now.  If the Democrats gain control of the House next year, they will impeach him.  They will find some flimsy reason.  And then he will have to fight for his presidency in the U.S. Senate, which judges impeachment cases.   Senate Republicans are increasingly distancing themselves from this president.  He bashes them individually, and is publicly humiliating Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former senator highly regarded in that body.

The president is in danger, and cheering crowds in Ohio won't save him.  Maybe John Kelly can.

July 29,  2017