Nothing to date has so thoroughly and perfectly epitomized Donald Trump's governing philosophy as Sharpie-gate: screw up, double down on screwing up, double down on doubling down, and continue making a complete ass of yourself over a hill of beans until such time as you can locate another hill of beans to plant your flag and die on. Let's admit it, thrashing about for 24 hours and counting over some Sharpie scribbles on a piece of paper is damn close to Trump's pinnacle of petty governance. But assuming no one has the guts/sense to invoke the 25th, Trump may have another year-plus of casting about without the moorings of even a hint of an agenda to reach new heights of trifling stupidity.
Just ahead of breaking Sharpie-gate wide open, Trump issued marching orders on Tuesday to the Democratic House, telling lawmakers via tweet to "get back to work on drug prices, health care, infrastructure and all else.” Ahh ... the ever-illusive empty shell of an infrastructure deal that Trump keeps resurrecting only to shoot it down again whenever someone starts talking actual policy. Brilliant! A little misdirection before highlighting—in the very same tweet—the very topic he was hoping to obscure with the illusion of governance. "The Mueller Report showed No Collusion, No Obstruction!"
How about health care, you say? Same, same. As The New York Times noted, in June, Trump promised to roll out a "phenomenal" replacement for the Affordable Care Act “in about two months, maybe less.” Over two months later, nada. Who knows, maybe he's got more Sharpies on order. Even typed, the ACA was some 2,300 pages. Or what about tackling one of this summer’s hottest and most pressing topics—mass shootings? Nope. That ship sailed when Trump floated some possible fixes, then talked to the NRA and proceeded to cower in the corner every time the topic was broached thereafter.
What that leaves in the way of an "agenda" isn't much. Trump has already given the list of any meaningful accomplishments the Sharpie treatment—a strikethrough of every legit policy item followed by the ominous open-ended letters tbd. In other words, a harrowing year-plus jam-packed with Trump's self-made crises, personal vendettas, nativist pandering, and special brand of niggling ignominy. It will be an epic, Category 5 whirlwind of absurdity—like nothing America has ever seen. Of that, we can be certain.