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Max Boot, a lifelong conservative who advised three Republican Presidential candidates on foreign policy, keeps a folder labelled Trump Stupidity File on his computer. Its next to his Trump Lies file. Not sure which is larger at this point, he told me this week. Its neck-and-neck.

Six months into the Trump era, foreign-policy officials from eight past Administrations told me they are aghast that the President is still so witless about the world. He seems as clueless today as he was on January 20th, Boot, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. Trumps painful public gaffes, they warn, indicate that hes not reading, retaining, or listening to his Presidential briefings. And the newbie excuse no longer flies.

Trump has an appalling ignorance of the current world, of history, of previous American engagement, of what former Presidents thought and did, Geoffrey Kemp, who worked at the Pentagon during the Ford Administration and at the National Security Council during the Reagan Administration, reflected. He has an almost studious rejection of the type of in-depth knowledge that virtually all of his predecessors eventually gained or had views on.

Criticism of Donald Trump among Democrats who served in senior national-security positions is predictable and rife. But Republicanswho are historically ambitious on foreign policyare particularly pained by the Presidents missteps and misstatements. So are former senior intelligence officials who have avoided publicly criticizing Presidents until now.

The President has little understanding of the contextof whats happening in the worldand even less interest in hearing the people who want to deliver it, Michael Hayden, a retired four-star general and former director of both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, told me. Hes impatient, decision-oriented, and prone to action. Its all about the present tense. When he asks, What the hells going on in Iraq? people around him have learned not to say, Well, in 632 . . . (That was the year when the Prophet Muhammad died, prompting the beginning of the Sunni-Shiite split. * )

He just doesnt have an interest in the world, Hayden said.

I asked top Republican and intelligence officials from eight Administrations what they thought was the one thing the President needs to grasp to succeed on the world stage. Their various replies: embrace the fact that the Russians are not Americas friends. Dont further alienate the Europeans, who are our friends. Encourage human rightsa founding principle of American identityand dont make priority visits to governments that curtail them, such as Poland and Saudi Arabia. Understand that North Koreas nuclear program cant be outsourced to China, which cant or wont singlehandedly fix the problem anyway, and realize that military options are limited. Pulling out of innovative trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, will boost Chinas economy and secure its global influenceto Americas disadvantage. Stop bullying his counterparts. And put the Russia case behind him by coperating with the investigation rather than trying to discredit it.

Trumps latest blunder was made during an appearance in the Rose Garden with Lebanons Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, on July 25th. Lebanon is on the front lines in the fight against ISIS , Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah, Trump pronounced. He got the basics really wrong . Hezbollah is actually part of the Lebanese governmentand has been for a quarter centurywith seats in parliament and Cabinet posts. Lebanons Christian President, Michel Aoun, has been allied with Hezbollah for a decade. As Trump spoke, Hezbollahs militia and the Lebanese Army were fighting ISIS and an Al Qaeda affiliate occupying a chunk of eastern Lebanon along its border with Syria. They won.

The list of other Trump blunders is long. In March, he charged that Germany owed vast sums to the United States for NATO . It doesnt . No NATO member pays the United Statesand never hasso none is in arrears. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal , in April, Trump claimed that Korea actually used to be part of China. Not true . After he arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia, in May, Trump said that he had just come from the Middle East. (Did he even look at a map?) During his trip to France, in July, the President confused Napoleon Bonaparte, the diminutive emperor who invaded Russia and Egypt, with Napoleon III, who was Frances first popularly elected President, oversaw the design of modern Paris, and is still the longest-serving head of state since the French Revolution (albeit partly as an emperor, too). And thats before delving into his demeaning tweets about other world leaders and flashpoints.

The sheer scale of his lack of knowledge is what has astounded meand I had low expectations to begin with, David Gordon, the director of the State Departments policy-planning staff under Condoleezza Rice, during the Bush Administration, told me.

Trumps White House has also flubbed basics. It misspelled the name of Britains Prime Minister three times in its official schedule of her January visit. After it dropped the H in Theresa May, several British papers noted that Teresa May is a soft-porn actress best known for her films Leather Lust and Whitehouse: The Sex Video. In a statement last month, the White House called Xi Jinping the President of the Republic of Chinawhich is the island of Taiwanrather than the leader of the Peoples Republic, the Communist mainland. The two nations have been epic rivals in Asia for more than half a century. The White House also misidentified Shinzo Abe as the President of Japanhes the Prime Ministerand called the Prime Minister of Canada Joe instead of Justin Trudeau.

Trumps policy mistakes, large and small, are taking a toll. American leadership in the worldhow do I phrase this, its so obvious, but apparently not to himis critical to our success, and it depends eighty per cent on the credibility of the Presidents word, John McLaughlin, who worked at the C.I.A. under seven Presidents, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, and ended up as the intelligence agencys acting director, told me. Trump thinks having a piece of chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago bought him a relationship with Xi Jinping. He came in as the least prepared President weve had on foreign policy," McLaughlin added. Our leadership in the world is slipping away. Its slipping through our hands.

And a world in dramatic flux compounds the stakes. Hayden cited the meltdown in the world order that has prevailed since the Second World War; the changing nature of the state and its power; Chinas growing military and economic power; and rogue nations seeking nuclear weapons, among others. Yet the most disruptive force in the world today is the United States of America, the former C.I.A. director said.

The closest similarity to the Trump era was the brief Warren G. Harding Administration, in the nineteen-twenties, Philip Zelikow, who worked for the Reagan and two Bush Administrations, and who was the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, told me. Harding, who died of a heart attack, after twenty-eight months in office, was praised because he stood aside and let his Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes, lead the way. Hughes had already been governor of New York, a Supreme Court Justice, and the Republican Presidential nominee in 1916, losing narrowly to Woodrow Wilson, who preceded Harding.

Under Trump, the White House has seized control of key foreign-policy issues. The Presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a real-estate developer, has been charged with brokering Middle East peace, navigating U.S.-China relations, and the Mexico portfolio. In April, Kushner travelled to Iraq to help chart policy against ISIS . Washington scuttlebutt is consumed with tales of how Trump has stymied his own Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the former C.E.O. of ExxonMobil.

The national-security system of the United States has been tested over a period of seventy years, John Negroponte, the first director of national security and a former U.N. Ambassador, told me. President Trump disregards the system at his peril.

Trumps contempt for the U.S. intelligence community has also sparked alarm. I wish the President would rely more on, and trust more, the intelligence agencies and the work that is produced, sometimes at great risk to individuals around the world, to inform the Commander-in-Chief, Mitchell Reiss, who was chief of the State Departments policy-planning team under Secretary of State Colin Powell, told me.

Republican critics are divided on whether Trump can grow into the job. Trump is completely irredeemable, Eliot A. Cohen, who was counselor to Condoleezza Rice at the State Department, told me. He has a feral instinct for self-survival, but hes unteachable. The ban on Muslims coming into the country and building a wall, and having the Mexicans pay for it, that was all you needed to know about this guy on foreign affairs. This is a man who is idiotic and bigoted and ignorant of the law. Cohen was a ringleader of an open letter warning, during the campaign, that Trumps foreign policy was wildly inconsistent and unmoored.

But other Republicans from earlier Administrations still hold out hope. Whenever Trump begins to learn about an issuethe Middle East conflict or North Koreahe expresses such surprise that it could be so complicated, after saying it wasnt that difficult, Gordon, from the Bush Administration, said. The good news, when he says that, is it means he has a little bit of knowledge. So far, however, the learning curve has been pitifullyand dangerouslyslow.

* This post has been updated to clarify the contextual significance of the year 632.

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Why Is Donald Trump Still So Horribly Witless About the World? - The New Yorker

Cillizza: The Jim Justice party switch. How expected or unexpected was it?

Hoppy: The rumors had been circulating for some time. He talked about it with close advisers, wondering if the move would empower him to accomplish more with the Republican majorities in the House of Delegates and the Senate.

But the talk never seemed to go any farther. After all, Justice had just won election as a Democrat a few months earlier. How wise would it be to run as a member of one party, then switch not long after the election?

Additionally, Justice didn't seem to pay much attention to party labels. He didn't fly the Democratic flag during the campaign and during the legislative session he was as apt to bond with Republicans as Democrats. He said party affiliation was not important to him; he just wanted to work with anyone who could make West Virginia better.

Cillizza: It's been less than 24 hours. But how is the Justice switch going over in the state? Do you anticipate him having ANY electoral problems because of it?

Hoppy: The news is shocking. Even his top staff and close advisers did not know. One told me he found out about it on Twitter. Another told me yesterday he wouldn't believe it until he heard it from the Governor's mouth.

Anti-Trump protesters gathered at the Huntington venue last night chanted, "Jim Justice is a traitor."

Cillizza: Sen. Joe Manchin is now one of two statewide elected Democrat. He's also up for reelection next November. How concerning is the Justice switch for Manchin -- if at all?

Hoppy: Manchin is disappointed. He and Justice are close. In fact, Justice called Manchin in 2015 and pledged his support for Manchin if he decided to run for governor. BUT, Justice also said if Manchin was not going to run, he wanted to.

Manchin is politically pragmatic. So after the dust settles, I don't think it will mean much one way or another in the Senate race. It would be hard to imagine Justice inserting himself in the Senate race in support of the Republican candidate. My guess is Justice stays out of that and Manchin and the nominee fight it out.

Cillizza: Trump appeared with Justice at a rally last night and seemed to get a hero's welcome. Is Trump as popular as he was in November 2016? Why or why not?

Hoppy: As noted above, Trump is still very strong here, and it's less about party than populism. Trump tapped into the anger and frustration in rural America. Elites want to paint that as racism and xenophobia, and there is some of that. But, West Virginia and rural America has a series of socioeconomic problems -- drugs, economy, family breakdown -- and they feel like they are being ignored, especially by the national Democratic Party.

Cillizza: Finish this sentence: "The one word West Virginians would use to describe Trump and Justice is __________." Now, explain.

Hoppy: "Hope."

As I said in No. 4, this area is struggling through some difficult times. Small town West Virginia and small town America have myriad challenges that have nothing to do with climate change or identity politics. Trump campaigned on "Make America Great Again" and Justice constantly talks about how West Virginia deserves better.

These themes align to provide a reason to hope. It's really less about party politics and more about a kind of populism.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to note that West Virginia treasurer John Perdue is a Democrat who was also elected statewide.

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Behind Donald Trump's off-the-charts West Virginia popularity - CNN

August 4, 2017 WashingtonAmericas senators scattered to the winds for their summer recess on Thursday, leaving behind a big unfinished agenda and a peeved president.

The chief executive has lambasted lawmakers for failing to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, for theirinvestigations into Russia and his campaign,for their arcane voting rules, and for passing sanctions legislation against Russia.

He took a parting shot in a tweet Thursday morning, saying You can thank Congress for a US-Russia relationship that is at an all-time & very dangerous low.

President Trump may think his problem is with members of Congress and the way they run things. In one sense, the decisions and behaviors of individuals in Washington not least, himself account for his threadbare legislative accomplishments, despite Republican control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

But in the broadest sense, the resistance he's encounteringis due toAmericas system of governance. The story of his early presidency might easily be called Donald Trump meets the Founding Fathers, as a beginner politician runs up againstthe checks and balances that are designed to prevent tyranny and forge consensus.

Trump and his team aresurprised at the intransigence and resistance theyre meeting, when in fact, every other president has met them, says Don Ritchie, former Senate historian. This outsider White House didnt anticipate these things because they hadnt experienced these things, as former governors or legislators, like other presidents and senior White House officials.

During the honeymoon phase of a new administration, presidents can make significant headway. Barack Obama and George W. Bush scored some major legislative wins,when their parties, too, controlled both the House and Senate.

By the first August recess, a Democratic Congress had passed President Obamas big economic stimulus package, confirmed a Supreme Court justice, and was deep into the policy weeds of health care, which would become law early the next year. In his first year, President Bush got a $1.35 trillion tax cut andCongress passed landmark education reform with bipartisan support.

But Trump's marriage with the GOP has been rocky from the start.

He has been able to appoint a Supreme Court justice a biggie and roll back 14 Obama-era regulations, which Republicans say has helped to fuel the stock market to a record high. Still repeal-and-replace failed, the presidents budget is being strongly resisted by his own party, the border wall is a disputed budget line, tax reform is a set of talking points, and Democrats have panned his infrastructure plan.

Its not uncommon for presidents to meet resistance in Congress even when their party is in control. Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter all faced pushback, even though they had Democratic majorities.

Party members rebelled against FDRs attempt to pack the Supreme Court. They spurned Truman on his domestic agenda, though they agreed with him on key foreign policy issues. President Carter was too conservative for many Democrats witness Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedys decision to challenge him in the 1980 primary.

The common notion is that its presidents versus the opposition party in Congress, but its really presidents versus Congress as an institution, says Mr. Ritchie, the former Senate historian, recalling President Kennedys observation that he didnt realize how powerful Congress was until he was no longer just one of its 535members.

Trump saw that in a very tangible way when Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona became the unexpectedthird Republican to vote down, and thus kill, the Republican effort to pass a skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act in the wee hours of July 28. Senator McCain also strongly supported punishing sanctions against Russia for attempting to influence US elections last year and for its military actions overseas as did most members of Congress.

We are an important check on the powers of the executive, Senator McCain said in aspeech before the full Senate earlierlast week. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the presidents subordinates, we are his equal, the senator emphasized, as he urged a return to the regular order of hearings and the painstaking business of consensus-building between the parties.

That flexing of congressional muscle by Republicans even against their own president was on display again this week as two Senate bipartisan bills were introduced to protect against a possible firing of independent counsel Robert Mueller by the president. Trump calls the investigation by the counsel into possible collusion between members of his campaign and Russia a witch hunt.

Firing the independent counsel would create a constitutional crisis by undermining the rule of law, lawmakers of both parties say.

Republicans and Democrats have circled the wagons around Mr. Mueller and around the embattled attorney general, former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama. Senator Sessions has been one of the presidents most loyal supporters, now scorned by Trump for having recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Early on in his administration, Trump complained bitterly about the judicial branch. He chastised judges and lower-court rulings that went against his immigration travel ban, though he exulted when the Supreme Court partially upheld the ban in June.

As Ritchie points out, while just about everything in this young presidency is unprecedented, the pushback from the legislative and judicial branches is not.

I cant name a single president who has not been frustrated by the courts at some time, he says, pointing out that it is usually only after a crisis the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 that the legislative, judicial, and executive branches all come together.

While the resistancefrom the other parts of government might frustrate the president, many Americans have a newfound appreciation for it.

Thank God we have three branches of government, said Stephen Benjamin, the Democratic mayor of Columbia, S.C., at a Monitor breakfast on Wednesday. Mr. Benjamin was part of a delegation from the nonpartisan US Conference of Mayors, which visited Washington this week to meet with legislators about the presidents proposed budget cuts, among other things.

Its great to have strong leadership and outspoken leadership in the White House, said John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Ariz., in an interview after the breakfast. But he also hearkened back approvingly to McCains speech of last week.

Senator McCain gave us a great civics lesson that the Senate and the Congress is not subservient to the president. They are the presidents equal.

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Donald Trump, meet the Founding Fathers - Christian Science Monitor

Brynn Tannehill

Rank/branch of military: Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy. In the reserves until July 1, 2017 Hometown: Phoenix, AZ Proudest moment: All the years of training and dedication came together for me in those moments where I was there for my shipmates when they needed me the most. They survived because we were there. Biggest misconception: The idea that its too expensive to retain transgender service members is laughable to me. It costs more to replace two highly trained transgender service members than to provide health care for every last one of them.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Rank/branch of military: Captain, U.S. Army Hometown: Scranton, PA Proudest moment: Taking command of my first platoon after I graduated from West Point. Leading American soldiers is the single greatest honor Ive ever received. Biggest misconception: People often assume I joined the Army to make a man out of myself. I didnt. I joined the Army out of a sense of gratitude for all Id been given by this country.

Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick.

Rank/branch of military: Senior Chief, U.S. Navy SEALs Hometown: Wellsville, NY Proudest moment: I saved the life of an Afghanistan man in the middle of chaos. I also saw him later on and was able to have tea with him. Biggest misconception: The idea that this is a new issue. Transgender people have been serving since the Revolutionary war, and most of us dont cost a thing.

Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick.

Rank/branch of military: Active Duty Navy Lieutenant Commander Hometown: St. Louis, MO Proudest moment: The day I qualified in submarines and was pinned with my dolphins. Biggest misconception: We are obsessed with transitioning and cannot function or do our jobs. Many transgender service members are at the top of their game and they only get better when they are allowed to transition.

Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick.

Rank/branch of military: Army Sergeant Major, retired in 2012 Hometown: Jersey City, NJ Proudest moment: My service in Afghanistan in 20102011. I was awarded the French National Defense Medal, the first American to receive that medal since World War II. Biggest misconception: Expensive, complicated surgeries would make them non-deployable or [reduce their] effectiveness.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.

Rank/branch of military: Colonel, U.S. Army. Retired December 4, 2004, after 35 years of service. Hometown: Manitowoc, WI Proudest moment: I was the first woman to (legitimately) wear an infantry uniform after my DD 214 was changed to reflect my authenticity. I wore that uniform at [a] Pentagon Pride Event and [the] White House Pride month reception in June 2015. Biggest misconception: Some people, particularly the older generation, believe trans individuals are mentally ill. Being transgender is a medical condition, no different than someone suffering from diabetes or heart disease. All medical conditions are deserving of treatment.

Photograph by Kevin Miyazaki.

Rank/branch of military: Active Duty Army Soldier, Intelligence Officer Hometown: Houston, TX Proudest moment: The day I took command of a company. It was something I had given up hope on ever doing after deciding to transition, assuming that my career would be over. Biggest misconception: I think what it all comes down to is this stereotype people have of who trans people are. Once you work with someone and know someone personally, it breaks those stereotypes down.

Photograph by Robbie McClaran.

Rank/branch of military: Retired Army Corporal, worked as a Health-care Management Administration Specialist Hometown: Waipahu, HI What is your proudest moment in the service? Knowing that the solider was going to be able to go home to their family was and is always the most satisfying part of my career. What is the biggest misconception youd like to correct? The most common one in my opinion is that transgender people are incapable of fulfilling a duty because they are mentally unstable. In order to serve in these roles, you have to be mentally sound.

Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick.

Rank/branch of military: Captain, Kentucky National Guard. Currently serving in the 198th Military Police Battalion as the Senior Human Resources Officer Hometown: Lexington, KY Proudest moment: Being selected as T.A.C. (Teach, Assess, Counsel) officer of the year. It meant a lot to me to know that both my soldiers and command thought so well of my work, even as the Army was processing me for involuntary discharge due to being transgender. Biggest misconception: That being transgender is the most important part of who we are. I am proud to be a transgender man, but when it comes down to it, I am a commissioned officer in the United States Army.

Photograph by Jacob Roberts.

Rank/branch of military: Active Duty Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Hometown: Flower Mound, TX Proudest moment: To be fortunate enough to see the policy change for transgender military members like myself. To see my brothers and sisters no longer have to serve in silence is a humbling experience. Biggest misconception: We only want to serve in the military to have our transitions paid for. At no point is my military service about me; its about those who came before me.

Photographed by Matthew Mahon.

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Norman Lear Refuses to be Honored by Donald Trump - Vanity Fair

By Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

Since Donald Trump packed up his bathrobes and self-tanning formula last January and begrudgingly moved into that dump on Pennsylvania Avenue, rare is the weekend that he hasnt fled D.C. In the winter and spring, hed jet down to his Palm Beach palace, Mar-a-Lago, entertaining world leaders and crashing weddings. As the days have gotten hotter and the president has presumably begun to shvitz, hes moved things north to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where on Friday hell begin a 17-day vacation.

The one place he surprisingly hasnt visited, however, is his beloved Trump Tower apartment in Midtown Manhattan (although that may have more to do to with the throngs of protesters who have become fixtures outside the building). Still, by law, the Secret Service treats Trump Tower as the presidents main residence and must keep a team there to protect it. Which it was doing from inside the skyscraper until recently, when it was forced to move to a trailer on the street after lease negotiations broke down with the Trump Organization. Per The Washington Post:

The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President Trumps company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Previously, the Secret Service had stationed its command postwhich houses supervisors and backup agents on standby in case of an emergencyin a Trump Tower unit one floor below the presidents apartment. But in early July, the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts worry could hamper the agency that protects the presidents home and family.

While its not clear exactly where the talks broke down, people familiar with the matter told the Post the sticking points included the price and other conditions of the lease, and the statement from Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller seems to support that. After much consideration, it was mutually determined that it would be more cost effective and logistically practical for the Secret Service to lease space elsewhere, Miller said in an e-mail. In June, Bloomberg reported that the presidents net worth had taken a hit thanks to his three Manhattan office properties dropping in value, including Trump Tower. So youll have to forgive the people working on his behalf if they tried to make up some of the gaps by hosing the Secret Service on rent.

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The Secret Service is Sick of Getting Hosed by Donald Trump - Vanity Fair