The Very Stable Genius is looking a lot like a mere mortal this week

It turns out he's no more able to build walls with Mexican money, make the stock market soar without interruption, or achieve lasting peace in the Middle East than the Most Equal Comrade was able to quell the rising of the seas or fundamentally transform America.

Now, Democrats are not to be taken seriously when the subject is national sovereignty, but the ones  in Congress do have a point in their opposition to the wall along the southern border when they say, "Um, you said quit unequivocally that Mexico would pay for it." In fact, the administration is about to send $4.8 billion to Mexico in development aid.

I'll bet Ann Coulter is fit to be tied about right now.

And son-in-law Jared Kushner obviously has the VSG's ear, given that he's now on the criminal justice reform bandwagon,

And the Fed chair isn't intimidated by he of the wispy carrot top:

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell said 'nothing' will deter independent central bankers from following their economic convictions – after an extraordinary pressure campaign by President Donald Trump failed to stave off a rate hike.

Powell got asked repeatedly Wednesday about Trump's extended public push to hold off on further rate increases – which the Fed's rate committee brushed past as it came out with a 0.25 per cent increase in the Fed's closely-watched lending rate.

And though he didn't go after Trump by name, Powell, who was nominated by the president, proclaimed his independence when asked about the pressure tactics by multiple reporters at a rare press conference.

'Political considerations play no role whatsoever in our discussions or our decisions about monetary policy,' Powell told reporters just minutes after the Fed announced its rate hike. 

And now the stock market is on a downswoop of its roller-coaster gyrations. At this point, all its gains for the year are wiped out.

And folks are starting to discuss the consequences of this sudden announcement of a "full and rapid" withdrawal of US troops from Syria:

 First, it looks like Erdogan’s information operation on the killed Muslim Brotherhood apostle and WaPo opinion writer, Jamal Khashoggi, had its desired effect. You’ll note that no one is talking about this beacon of press freedom in the past week. 

Second, this is a huge win for Iran, for Bashar Assad, and for Vladimir Putin. They have gone from being on their heels strategically to having turfed us out of Syria without lifting a finger.

Iran, now effectively allied with both Turkey and Russia, will be unhindered in its quest to create the so-called Shia Crescent that terminates on the Mediterranean.
Regional partners will see that we are not a reliable ally, particularly when their every existence is at stake. Not only will Erdogan be free to continue with the Turkish policy of ethnic cleansing and re-peopling the area with Turks, it will put Erdogan’s boot on the throat of the cause of Kurdish self-determination. Other people are going to notice.

Russia goes from participating in a conflict that generates enough dead Russians that the Russian government has to hid the funerals to being seen as the regional kingmaker.

So much winning.