The president* is touring the Middle East on a double bill with Toby Keith. (Meatheads Over the Levant World Tour, 2017). In his absence, the leaks just keep on coming, and the water keeps getting higher. From the AP:

Donald Trump's attorneys originally wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true, according to correspondence with the Office of Government Ethics. Attorney Sheri Dillon said she saw no need for Trump to sign his 2016 personal financial disclosure because he is filing voluntarily this year. But OGE director Walter Shaub said his office would only work with Dillon if she agreed to follow the typical process of having Trump make the certification. That is standard practice for the thousands of financial disclosure forms OGE processes each year. "As we discussed, OGE will provide this assistance on the condition that the President is committed to certifying that the contents of his report are true, complete and correct," Shaub wrote in a May 10 letter. "When we met on April 27, 2017, you requested that he be excused from providing this certification."…In her letter to Shaub, Dillon says the president will "sign and file" documents regarding his 2016 financials by mid-June — an indication that she agreed to the OGE requirement that the president certify the information as true to the best of his knowledge. Dillon also stressed in her letter, dated May 9, that Trump is under no obligation to file a financial disclosure this year and is doing so voluntarily. "President Trump welcomes the opportunity to provide this optional disclosure to the public, and hopes to file it shortly," she wrote.

Excuse me. I have to get something from across the room. Ah, there we are.

Anyway, he's headed for Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, he doesn't like going on long trips and there are steps being taken to make the whole presidentin' thing easier for him. From The New York Times:

After four months of interactions between Mr. Trump and his counterparts, foreign officials and their Washington consultants say certain rules have emerged: Keep it short — no 30-minute monologue for a 30-second attention span. Do not assume he knows the history of the country or its major points of contention. Compliment him on his Electoral College victory. Contrast him favorably with President Barack Obama. Do not get hung up on whatever was said during the campaign. Stay in regular touch. Do not go in with a shopping list but bring some sort of deal he can call a victory.

The Participation Ribbon Presidency.

Getty Images

And don't confuse President Griswold with your foreign food. From The Chicago Tribune:

In Saudi Arabia, people with knowledge of the planning for Trump's trip say the caterers are planning to offer the president steak and ketchup alongside the lamb and hefty portions of rice on the menu. All the meat will have been butchered in a Shariah-compliant halal manner as per Islamic custom.

I'm surprised he didn't ask for bacon. Truly, I am. Maybe this is the pivot.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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