Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon said Donald Trump is a self-destructive president who is pushing Washington to the edge.
"The man can't help himself," Continetti wrote in a column on Friday. "I'm speaking of course of our president, Donald Trump, whose talents at marketing and publicity brought him wealth and fame and, at the age of 70, the highest political office in the nation.
"Aggressive, flamboyant, unpredictable, and combative, Trump's impulsivity has benefited him as a businessman and as a candidate, but not as a president.
"His desire to convey an image of speed and determination has resulted in executive orders stopped by judicial intervention and a legislature that is quarrelsome and confused. His popping off on Twitter creates scandals that should not otherwise exist, and inflames already high tensions in the capital," Continetti continued.
"His firing of FBI Director James Comey, then his changing explanations of the dismissal, birthed an enemy he does not want to have and alienated a staff whose loyalty he needs."
He noted most successful presidents don't worry about the small things, and instead concentrate on a handful of issues they want to deal with, including laws they want passed and initiatives they want started.
"Recently, though, it has seemed as if the small stuff is the only thing Donald Trump sweats," he said.
"Negative coverage, personal slights, how one performs onscreen, the light fixtures and flat-screen televisions in the residence — this is what animates him, what captures his attention."
Continetti said presidents are supposed to sell agendas, but "Trump sells himself." And he called the president's recent commencement addresses "examples of his self-obsession."
"Until someone in the White House is willing or able to tell the president no, until the president listens to that person and respects them to such a degree that he does not turn against them within 24 hours, the atmosphere of paranoia and hysteria that has enveloped Washington will not subside," he said.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.