Trump's virtual reality presidency

An off-the-top-of-our-head list:

• Leaving NATO
• Bombing Iran
• Death penalty for drug dealers
• Birthright citizenship
• Firing staff
• Firing Mueller
• Leaving the World Trade Organization
• Blowing up Iranian fast boats in the Persian Gulf
• Withdrawing troops and family dependents from South Korea
• Nationalizing 5G

In some cases, Trump follows through, or at least comes very close:

• Trump signed off on an order to evacuate families of service members from South Korea. Allies would have viewed that as a prelude to war, and former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis managed to stop it. But the order was drafted, per sources who were there at the time.
• The U.S. won't leave the WTO, in all likelihood. But the administration drafted legislation, as scooped by Swan, that would effectively blow up the nation's WTO commitments.

Remember: Trump has already withdrawn the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris climate agreement, and he's done what no president dared: move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

• The president has been so globally disruptive that you can’t ignore his private venting — even stuff that sounds unlikely.
• He has begun withdrawing from Syria. Is anyone willing to bet against him doing the same in Afghanistan?
• And even though he never withdrew from KORUS (the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement) — which aides viewed as potentially calamitous — an order was drafted, as Bob Woodward recounts in "Fear."

Be smart: Trump blurts out most ideas that roll through his mind. The most frustrating part for top officials is they must quickly move the machinery of government to conform to — or more often to terminate — the suggestions. 

• P.S. Trump has suggested the shutdown could drag on as long as a year. It sounds unthinkable and absurd. But so did the travel ban. 

Go deeper:

• Trump, without evidence, accuses Florida Democrats of rigging elections
• Trump suggests "rogue killers" could be behind Khashoggi disappearance
• Trump's secret, shrinking schedule