What just happened? President Donald Trump's greatest bug—or feature—might be his flightiness, coupled with a certain showmanship, a bit of flair. What holds one day may not hold the next. This results in chaotic whiplash, like with tariffs and "Liberation Day" rates that, in many cases, did not end up holding. It results in executive orders that make news cycles but don't actually change all that much, like this week's executive order classifying antifa a domestic terrorist group. It makes it hard for firms and individuals to plan ahead, to know what type of workers they'll be hiring and how expensive materials will be and what the law permits.
In foreign policy, it means a longstanding approach might not in fact be so. Like Trump's reversal, yesterday afternoon, on Ukraine, following a meeting with that country's president:
"After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form," wrote the president on Truth Social:
