FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP POSITION CHANGES: “President Donald Trump is facing cresting challenges at home and overseas by rejecting traditional West Wing structures and defying an orthodox policy process while stacking his administration with subordinates who share his combative reflexes. A month of turmoil, staff purges and sharp policy shifts by a President determined more than ever to follow his impulses has left the White House at a perilous moment of global transition. In becoming true to his outsider anti-establishment roots, the President is implementing the purest form of Trumpism he has so far attempted. Yet his experiment with gut-level governance brings significant risks of unpredictable results, ahead of tests like his summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un or work to create a post-ISIS settlement in Syria. As he conducts his symphony of chaos at home, the President has lost seven people from within his administration or inner circle in just a month, some of whom were fired by tweet.”
-Stephen Collinson, “Trump embraces his instincts at a key global moment,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 2, 2018 6:41pm