Ad-hoc Trump fuels White House meltdown
WASHINGTON, March 3 (AFP) - A White House lurching from crisis to crisis appeared close to complete meltdown Friday, as Donald Trump's staff struggled to limit damage from two impulsive moves with far-reaching consequences. Trump's off-the-cuff enticement of a global trade war and calls for limits on the constitutional right to bear arms cleaved a schism between the mercurial president and his Republican backers, sparked a stock market sell-off and prompted threats of retaliatory sanctions from across the globe.
Angered by the announced departure of confidant Hope Hicks, financial scandals surrounding son- in- law Jared Kushner and the ongoing investigation into his campaign, Trump thumbed his nose at advisors' warnings and announced punitive steel and aluminum tariffs. “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump tweeted Friday.
Officials made no effort to disguise that the decision -- which will bring legal action -- had short circuited internal deliberations and preempted the administration's own determination about whether the step was lawful. The tariffs are an extension of Trump's decades-long crusade against America's terms of trade, but infuriated allies in Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Trump's tweets came only hours after he blindsided Republicans by advocating raising age limits for gun ownership, tightening background checks and seizing some weapons without due process. Republicans have shown themselves to be tolerant of Trump's rhetorical and even alleged moral transgressions, but that gun heterodoxy was a step too far for most.