CHAOS DEEPENS, TRUMP WEAKENS OWN POWER

Harold Macmillan, the mid-century British prime minister, supposedly said that what statesmen feared most were “events, dear boy, events.” Misfortunes happen — a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, a foreign crisis. Political leaders are judged by how adroitly or incompetently they handle the unexpected.

- Bret Stephens

Fortunately, the Trump administration has yet to face such misfortunes. Its only misfortune — and therefore everyone else's — is itself.

This has been clear again this week, with two stories that, at their core, are the same. First came the revelation that Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defence, had shared sensitive details of a military strike on Yemen with his wife, brother and personal lawyer on a Signal group chat. This was followed by an essay in Politico from a former close aide to Mr Hegseth, John Ullyot, describing a “full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon” — a meltdown that included the dismissal of three top officials.

Then came a market rout and a dollar plunge, triggered by President Donald Trump's unhinged attacks on Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair. Mr Powell's sin was to describe the probable effects of the president's tariffs: higher prices and slower growth. This sent Mr Trump into a rage, complete with White House threats to explore whether Mr Powell could be sacked — a potential assault on central bank independence worthy of Argentina's worst economic days.