Trump contradicted by his own men

It seems that whatever Trump says he wants, his minions push out a different line altogether. It's government by contradiction, not the easiest form of administration for the rest of us to follow with any degree of confidence. So, for example, Trump says Nato is obselete and he won't any longer jump to members' defence unless they boost military expenditure. Nato goes into freefall. The Baltic countries start thinking they're going to be abandoned if Russia invades them. Then along come James Mattis, defence secretary, and Mike Pence, vice-president, who claim the US remains solidly behind the alliance and that all is well. Mattis threw in a spanner about "you pay more or we do less". But, frankly, that's been the message from Washington from nearly all his predecessors. Bob Gates was always going on about other alliance countries needing to spend more on defence. So the president wants a Nato upheaval but Mattis and Pence do the reassuring bit.  Since coming into office, Trump has been sounding off about the dishonest media, and in his latest tirade called reporters the enemy of the United States, guilty of writing false stories about him. Up steps Mattis and says, no, the media are not the enemy of the US. He actually quite likes the media and is well used to dealing with the fabulous bunch of reporters who are members of the Pentagon press corps. I was a member for three years when I was Pentagon correspondent for The Times from 2010-2013, and can vouch for their professionalism, and patriotism. Then Mattis arrives in Baghdad and makes it absolutely clear that, despite what his president said, the US was not about to seize Iraq's oil. The general said the US always paid for its oil thank you very much. Relief for the Baghdad government. I wonder if Trump is getting a little peeved with Mattis. Watch out "Mad Dog". But the nation needs people like Mattis, distinguished old soldiers prepared to stand up to the nonsense spouted by the president most days of the week. But the contradictions do make you wonder whether there is ever going to be any form of unity in this new administration. Normally, whatever the president says he expects his underlings to follow in the same vein. Rejecting the views of the president, I would have thought, could be a fairly risky career move.