Gail Collins: Well Bret, I guess vacation is over. Can’t say mine was remarkable. I went to Cincinnati, got a new dog and memorized the names of all the Democratic presidential candidates. Then forgot a couple. How about you?

Bret: South of France, mostly, though it was awfully hot and air-conditioning isn’t really a thing over there. I bet you’re in the market for the world’s smallest violin, right?

Gail: Well the air-conditioning was great in Cincinnati. It’s a lovely city, now known as the birthplace of Representative Ayanna Pressley, who you may remember was one of the congresswomen President Trump told to go back to the “crime-infested places from which they came.” While you were in your muggy vacation bubble, how much of our politics came seeping through? Give me your shorthand analysis of where we are now.

Bret: The one constant is D. T. C. T.: Donald Trump Crazy Talk. He now describes Jay Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve as an “enemy,” and wants to “order” American businesses out of China. I’m tempted to say this meltdown might be a good thing, in that it might finally get Republicans in the Chamber of Commerce mold to realize the president is not their friend. Then again, I seem to remember that the attack on Pearl Harbor was prompted in part by the Roosevelt administration’s effort to isolate Japan economically, so my feelings are mixed. What do you think?