2017 May 24^th

The detritus today will really be detritus, and trivial detritus at that. First, we have two instances of potential marital discord between POTUS an FLOTUS. (If I had more time and enthusiasm, a limerick might be in order here,) Two instances were filmed where POTUS reached for the hand of FLOTUS and she abruptly pulled it away from him…and this in full view of many, many cameras. Was this accidental? Almost certainly it was. FLOTUS has far more effective ways of showing her displeasure with POTUS than refusing to take his hand in public.

There has been another more interesting development; it is a difference in the attention to protocol: The Trump women, both first daughter Ivanka and third wife Melania appeared veiled and in long sleeved black dresses for their audience with the Pope. This is the expected attire for females receiving an audience with His Holiness; it is not required however. Camilla, Duchess of Cambridge, was received recently wearing a pink dress. Note that no such concern for protocol was shown when the Trump women appeared publicly in Saudi Arabia. They were brazenly uncovered and had they been Saudi women their punishment for such effrontery would have been severe.

The Trump women did exactly what Michele Obama did when she visited Saudi Arabia with her husband. She also appeared without the expected head covering. When Michelle Obama did the same thing Donald J. Trump was quick to criticize her for flouting the conventional dress. This is just another example of Trump’s numerous 180s.

Trump’s idyll away from Washington will end soon. He has already sent home Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon. No one knows why but the Trump people claim the plan was to send these two home at this point in the trip. No reason has been given for their exit and they appeared to serve no function when they were present.

It has been speculated that the administration’s troubles are deepening at home and that is why Priebus and Bannon have been sent back. Nowhere is it explained what Priebus and Bannon can do about the problem. The most recent difficulty is with the heads of two more intelligence agencies, Dan Coates, Director of National Intelligence and Admiral Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, they each claim they had been requested to make inappropriate statements. Trump asked them to deny publicly that there was any evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia. They both refused the request. Again, unfortunately for Trump, the fact that the request was made was leaked to the press.

Trump makes much of the potential for disaster if we have national security leaks. The problem for Trump is that most of these leaks bear more on the security of Donald J. Trump than on the security of the United States.