Meanwhile, Trump’s deregulatory reflex and desire to reverse Obama’s legacy mean he’s clawing back his predecessor’s overreach.

On the legislative front, even as Trump outdoes himself with outlandish tweets, he’s getting closer to his first major victory, in pursuit of a stereotypical Republican policy goal. If there’s a safe assumption to make about any GOP president, it’s that he’ll seek deficit-financed tax cuts. Trump is reliably conforming to the pattern.

In the real world, the economy is growing at a nice clip, and the stock market is humming along, showing no signs that it believes the republic is about to be destroyed by a Mad King.