I see my job as trying to read the leaves. The story changes every day. I can only tell you how it looks from here. I see trump gridlock located in the West Wing or Bedminster, NJ, or wherever he may be. His mind is very iffy now. He may be facing a weekend of Comey fallout that could crescendo into an impeachment chorus. This will have an inevitable effect on his exceedingly iffy effort to do anything in Congress. I cannot see anything rising up that can stop the cards from falling in this direction.

Executive paralysis

Gridlock was once seen as a Congress problem.

We should have known it was more than a Congress problem when we witnessed the dialing down of Obama administered by Mr. Ryan, Mr. Boehner, and Mr. McConnell, all servants of the one percent set on doing the will of the Federalist Society. But now with the ground right for cooperation between the White House and Congress, we have Mr. Monkeywrench himself, one Donald Trump who even when defeat is remote can make it return with a single tweet.

Tweet suicide

This is the lesson of the most recent brouhaha. Trump wants a travel ban on certain nations. Courts smack him down as unconstitutional. His minions scramble to ensure that the travel ban nonsense is gone. The second round of court decisions notes that the President still wants things to be unconstitutional.

The courts smack him again. Trump goes ballistic.

A man who can still play good golf at 70 has at least some staying power. He now tweets 'travel ban' in capital letters several times. He rubs travel ban in the face of the nation. The base is happy. Everyone else scratches their heads. Impeachment fans rub their hands.

Next?

The clock begins to play a protagonist role in the Trump demise story.

The summer recess is coming. This is not a time when legislation is likely, and there is enough vagueness regarding health and tax legislation to encourage a veritable flood of lassitude; The GOP is not used to governing. It will not pe pushed by a Trump already wounded by Comey and doubly anxious to see his revenge on Obama come to fruition.

Next after Comey could well be the recess that began with nothing done yet.

The government is just a bit too much for Trump to handle, so it seems.

Inside the West Wing

I must assume that leaks to Axios are valid. If so the West Wing is a little like the entire Trump governmental operation. Spotty would be a charitable word to describe it. Nonexistent would be more like it. There is no War Room to defend Trump against impeachment blowback. There are tons of offices unfilled. They are everywhere.

There is lone Donald whose favored daughter now is said to want out and whose son-in-law is about three steps away from serious trouble. Trump should thank the MSM for keeping alive the fiction that we have an actual presidential operation. From here it feels like a collapse in slow motion.