HEALTHCARE/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “It turns out that Donald Trump alone can’t fix it. The President’s chaos theory of management, rule by threats, focus on pleasing his political base and policy-lite sloganeering are being exposed as ill-suited to effective governance as the nation wrestles with two perennial controversies given new life this week: health care and immigration. With a bewildering avalanche of tweets and comments in recent days, Trump has sent his surprised aides scurrying to understand his intentions and assess the implications of his ad hoc policy making. The tumult has strained an unorthodox and rudimentary policy-making process, highlighted confusion in the administration and government agencies, and left his own staffers admitting they have no idea what the commander in chief will do next. In the slimmed-down West Wing, the struggle to contain or prepare for the reverberations of Trump’s impulses seems to have replaced the rampant backbiting that went on before senior officials, like former chief of staff John Kelly, who tried to impose discipline and cohesion left.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Trump’s threats and reversals sow confusion on health care and immigration,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 2, 2019 1:02 am