This week has been so long that it’s almost difficult to remember that it started with the horrific deaths of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, which prompted reports about the growth of anti-Semitism in the US, as well as the ways in which that anti-Semitism is mainstreamed for political purposes. It's weighty, depressing news, so it's no wonder that, by Wednesday, people were throwing themselves into Halloween, and the annual ritual of celebrities apologizing for costumes. Yet celebrity Halloween costumes seem like a small thing when compared to all the other events of the past week. Shall we step back and ruminate on them together? Yes, let's.

Send in the Troops

What Happened: In the middle of an already fraught week, President Trump decided to order thousands of soldiers to southern US border.

What Really Happened: It was Immigration Week at the White House last week, with President Trump trying to mobilize his base using overwrought rhetoric about the migrant caravan making its way to the US border from Honduras. Very little of what he said was true, but the midterms were a week away and it's not like baseless fear-mongering hurt him last time. But then, we’re in a different era, now. Maybe. Perhaps.

After weeks of talking about a the caravan that was coming to invade the US, President Trump started last week by announcing the deployment of 5,200 troops to the US-Mexico border, even though the caravan of migrants was still around 900 miles away, and unlikely to reach the US, anyway. It was pretty obviously a political stunt—made even more obvious by the mission's official name, "Faithful Patriot." (No, we didn't make that up.)

It's certainly a big deal—

—but is it a useful one? Maybe not.

So, they'll be there to … help law enforcement officials who are already there, but not there to do the thing that the president says they’re there for. I mean, sure, OK. After all, the troops are already arriving there and current estimates say the caravan, if it makes it, will likely arrive the last weekend in November, so it's not like the troops would have anything else to do. And it's only a few thousand troops. Surely there's no problem with that and it's all super cheap and above board, right?

Also, it's possible the troops could've been given something more productive to do.

It would be understandable for someone to look at the response to the deployment and think, Oh, maybe I should reconsider this whole thing. Apparently, that’s exactly what President Trump did, but he took things in a different direction than should have been expected.

Oh, man! That President Trump! He's playing four-dimensional chess again, isn't he?