Donald Trump is a paradox wrapped in a punchline. Somehow, this man — twice impeached, oft-indicted, nearly assassinated and visibly allergic to the Constitution — clawed his way back to the presidency, even winning the popular vote.

And then he promptly squandered it.

Within just 100 days, Trump has managed to waste the kind of political capital that more competent authoritarians would kill for (and some literally have). Instead of rolling the nation into a soft-serve autocracy while “the resistance” fumbled with its laces, he tripped over his own.

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Trump seems to be governing with a shrewd “how to be an authoritarian” list, checking off targets: the courts, the media, academia, his own party, the legal profession, the military — all intimidated or co-opted.

And yet ... he’s bad at it. Like, really bad.

Almost every modern president misreads his mandate. It’s practically an American tradition. But Trump? He took that tradition to a new low. Tariffs, deportations and the DOGE cuts were his opening salvos, each a masterclass in political faceplanting.

Why the misfires? I have theories.

Trump’s 2024 campaign was a carnival of contradictions. He built a sprawling, internally incoherent coalition of MAGA diehards, libertarians, militarists, isolationists, union guys, online trolls, the anti-“woke,” prosperity preachers, farmers, crunchy health nuts and terrified........

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