Is There Method to Trump’s Madness?

On Tuesday, I spoke on a panel about the 1965 Voting Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. During the reception after the event, someone asked me what I thought of President Trump’s recent actions at home and abroad. What did I make of his self-destructive decision to launch an unprovoked war in Iran? How did I understand the constant chaos and dysfunction coming out of the White House? In short, was there a method to the apparent madness?

My short answer to my interlocutor was “no,” although I of course said a bit more than that. And my slightly longer answer to you, reader, is “No — there isn’t.” I got at this somewhat in my column this week, but there is no available evidence to support the idea that Trump is capable of thinking beyond the short term. We see this with the war in Iran, where it is clear that Trump expected more or less........

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