In The Shadows ...

And the winner is …

June 23, 2018 Day 10.

I can’t be the only one who has noticed that, beyond the seemingly endless “alternative facts” that the President likes to spout, there is a real clarity deficit when it comes to understanding where the President stands on… just about everything!

"The president is a guy who likes to ... entertain a lot of different ideas," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said, testing the limits of understatement.

No shit, Sherlock. 😨 We look for leadership. We get endless flip-flops instead.

The What: Nobody in the White House (or anywhere else it seems) reliably speaks on Trump's behalf — maybe not even Trump himself. The president is the biggest flip-flopper in American politics today. A Trump policy pronouncement is like Kansas weather: If you don't like it, wait 15 minutes. The flip is almost surely coming. Just a few examples to add clarity:

After repeatedly saying Congress needs to solve the immigration problem, Trump questioned the "purpose" of two House immigration bills that he previously said he supported "1,000 percent." Trump tweeted that both bills don't matter, because they will likely fail in the Senate where Republicans hold 51 seats, but need 60 votes. Hours later, the House voted down its conservative immigration bill and then postponed a vote on a Republican compromise measure. President Donald Trump on Friday called on lawmakers to delay dealing with the critical issue until after the midterm elections — while accusing Democrats of concocting politically motivated "phony stories of sadness and grief" on the border.

President Trump’s abruptly announced that he will suspend U.S. military drills in South Korea, catching the Pentagon and the Seoul government flat-footed. Trump's reason? "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,"
… and then renewed sanctions on North Korea, citing an "extraordinary threat" from its nuclear weapons - just 10 days after saying there was no risk from Pyongyang.

The Impact: Leadership matters. Consistency matters. The future of the Dreamers depends on Trump's DACA policy. The future of farmers and workers depend on his trade policy. The future of anyone relying on insurance depends on his health-care ideas. To meander from position to position without signaling any real understanding of the issues or – more importantly - of the consequences is to be cavalier with the very lives of millions of people, both inside the U.S. and beyond our borders.

I’ll leave you with a final thought: "Sorry losers and haters, but my IQ is one of the highest - and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault." ~ Donald J. Trump

I guess he's pretty consistent about some things. 😂 🤣