The presidency has not had a maturation effect on Donald Trump

My reactions to attempts by journalists and pundits of various stripes to treat Donald Trump as if he fell within the normal range of presidents ranges from bemusement to disgust. Not only is there no actual "Trump agenda" - for every seeming hard-and-fast set of bullet points for health care, tax reform or immigration, inconsistencies present themselves, and deals are even made with Democrats - but he has shown no change in his perspective on comportment. He continues to trash the dignity of his office with nauseating regularity.

There is much to be said about ESPN's suspension of Jemele Hill as a culture-war battle, but there are plenty of pundits on the payrolls of cultural-observation websites, magazines and radio and TV programs who can do the job. It is not something the president of the United States is supposed to be devoting any attention to.

Alas, that's asking too much in the age of Trump. But he adds nothing to our understanding of the development, much less the context surrounding it. No, he has to tweak the person in question about ratings, much as he did with Schwarzenegger regarding Celebrity Apprentice some months ago:

With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have "tanked," in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!

Then there is the "joke" about the comparative IQs of himself and Rex Tillerson. You know the backstory. NBC reported that Tillerson had called Trump a "moron" in July. Tillerson hastily convened a press conference to attempt to reassure the public that he and Trump have a great relationship, but tellingly declining to deny having called him a moron.

Asked about the situation yesterday a Forbes interview, Trump responded thusly:

“I think it's fake news,” Trump told the magazine of Tillerson’s “moron” remark, “but if he did that, I guess we'll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win."

Then today, the current person holding the world's most thankless job, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was left to handle cleanup crew duties, as well as signal a possibility about Tillerson's fate, prattling about "working hand-in-hand" notwithstanding:

Speaking to the press on the issue earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders gave an “Aw, shucks” explanation for the comment.

“[Trump] certainly never implied that the secretary of state was not incredibly intelligent,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Tuesday.

OH… I guess it’s all in the wording, right?

So is he saying that Tillerson is smart, but he’s more smarter?

Trump did inform us all on the campaign trail that he had the best brain and the best words.

“He made a joke, nothing more than that,” Sanders said. “He has full confidence in the secretary of state. They had a great visit earlier today and they’re working hand-in-hand to move the president’s agenda forward.”

Uh-oh.

How many times have we heard about the president’s “full confidence,” only to see another contestant kicked off the island?

Then there was the back-and-forth set off by DJT first wife Ivana Trump's remarks about having a direct phone line to her former spouse in the White House, and how she is really the First Lady, and picked up by Melanie Trump's office, which issued remarks calling it a self-serving attempt to grab some limelight (which it was). It was the reality-TV vibe brought to the highest office in the land. This one doesn't directly involve DJT, but nearly so, since he is the first president to have had three wives and children by each.

All this is unprecedented. We've had sybarites, hotheads and narcissists in the White House before, but they knew how to pull off acting like someone with real dignity. That bar has been so lowered, it's questionable as to whether it can ever be raised again.

Which is why Rush Limbaugh sounded utterly ridiculous on his radio show today hammering away at his one-note-johnny spin about how the "Washington Establishment" is determined to thwart Trump at every turn merely because he is an "outsider." Went into a can-you-imagine-if-Republicans-worked-with-him-to-enact-his-agenda schtick, as if there were a damn agenda.

Rush, they're embarrassed, along with a whole hell of a lot of us outside the Beltway.

The latest Wayne Allen Root column, which I won't accord the dignity of a link, is rank cheerleading of the sort far better suited to a campaign fundraising letter. Record-high stock market! Great jobs picture! Manufacturing output up!

Yeah, Wayne, 2017 post-America is one healthy, robust, rosy-cheeked nation-state.

Stop it.

Trump enthusiasts, you look desperate and foolish.

And your attempts to make it an either-or game and place all the blame for the nation's lack of unity, lack of confidence, lack of cultural vibrancy, and, yes, lack of rising prosperity on an admittedly bumbling Congress ring really hollow.

Donald Trump is a mistake, and we'll be living with the effects of it for quite some time.