Donald Trump has gone mad!

What an extraordinary two days in Washington. Donald Trump has done a triple whammy attack on his closest military advisers and the whole of Congress, and there's probably more to come. He has earned the top prize for being the most impulsive, most reckless, most dismissive, most obstructive president in living memory. He doesn't care what his most experienced advisers advise. He just turns round and says "ya boo sucks, I'm going to do things my way because I know best". It's beginning to be scary. Apart from ordering all of the US troops out of Syria and half of the 14,000 troops from Afghanistan, he did an about-turn on signing the federal budget and refused to stop a shutdown of government unless Congress agreed to give him $5 billion to build his wall on the southern border. To add to the misery of the poor state workers who will now not get paid as they prepare to spend Christmas with their families, Trump made it clear he didn't care a bit whether the shutdown lasted a long time. He reversed his previous decision to sign the federal budget without the funding for the wall after his most right-wing Republican supporters went ballistic. He caved in overnight and told Congressional leaders: "No I shan't sign your budget, shan't shan't shan't." Like a spoilt child. It's an extraordinary way to behave. He obviously thinks that Congress will surrender and give him the money he wants. But the Democrats and some of the Republicans think the wall is a waste of money and pointless and stupid. So why would they surrender? It's going to be a cliffhanging drama which will spoil Christmas for millions of workers and cause deep deep divisions. Why has Trump behaved like this? What's got into his head? The incoming chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said he will let Trump be Trump. Bu that's what he does already. Even the four-star retired General John Kelly couldn't restrain him, and with Jim Mattis leaving the Pentagon in February, who is going to keep this president under some sort of control. John Bolton, the national security adviser, has some crazy, wild ideas of his own, so he's not going to be the man to temper Trump's irresponsibility. Mike Pompeo has too much on his plate in Foggy Bottom to rush to the White House every moment to check on what Trump is going to tweet next, and the president doesn't listen to any advice from any leaders anywhere. The United States of America, a country with a great constitution and a great record of humanity and leadership, is in the hands of an increasingly unpredictable individual. Yes, it's scary.