I’ve commented before on how Trump’s lack of discipline—displayed above all in his tweeting—undermines his own policies. Where conspiracy-theorists see Machiavellian manipulation of public opinion, I see chaos. A new and very good example comes from Judge Robart’s courtroom, again. Politico:
Seattle-based U.S. District Court Judge James Robart indicated in an order Friday that he agrees with challengers of the first ban that statements from Trump and his aides seem to be at odds with government attorneys’ promises that a new order will “rescind” the old one.
“Plaintiffs cite numerous contradictory statements by President Trump and others in his administration to the effect that they will continue to defend the Executive Order at issue in this litigation in addition to issuing a new Executive Order,” wrote Robart. “The court understands Plaintiffs’ frustrations concerning statements emanating from President Trump’s administration that seemingly contradict representations of the federal government’s lawyers in this and other litigation before the court.”
As between the chaos theory of the Trump administration and the Machiavellian theory, this is one more piece of evidence for the former.